Social 


Christianity 


Hugh  Price  Hughes,  M.A, 


PRINCETON,  N.  J.  *# 


Presented    by 


bTV^sX  CKx-VVvAX^Po^r-Vs, 


BR  115  .S6  H76  1889b 
Hughes,  Hugh  Price,  1847- 
1902. 

Social  Christianity 


SOCIAL    CHRISTIANITY. 


«'  The  blood  of  Christ  is  love." 

Ignatius  of  Antioch. 

"  Ne*er  forget  how  easier  far 
Devout  enthusiasm  is,  than  good  deeds. 
How  soon  our  indolence  contents  itself 
With  pious  raptures,  ignorant,  perhaps, 
Of  their  ulterior  end,  that  we  may  be 
Exempted  from  the  toil  of  doing  good." 

Lessuif. 


SOCIAL  CHRISTIANITY 


SERMONS 


DELIVERED   IN  ST.  JAMES'S  HALL,    LONDON. 


BY 

HUGH    PRICE    HUGHES,    M.A. 


THIRD  EDITION'. 


NEW   YORK : 

FUNK    &    WAGNALLS, 

iS  &  20,  ASTOR  PLAC] 


IF   THERE    IS 

ANYTHING   TIMELY   OR    HELPFUL 

IN    MY    PREACHING, 

IT    IS,    UNDER    GOD, 

DUE   TO 

MY   WIFE, 

TO    WHOM, 

WITH    GRATEFUL   AFFECTION, 

I    DEDICATE 

THESE    SERMONS. 


INTRODUCTION. 

FOR  many  years  I  have  obstinately  resisted 
the  importunity  of  valued  friends  who  have 
urged  me  to  publish  a  volume  of  sermons.  J 
have  not  deemed  any  utterance  of  mine  worthy 
of  permanent  record.  My  too  busy  life  affords 
no  time  for  theological  or  literary  elaboration. 
But  of  late  the  pressure  to  publish  has  greatly 
increased.  Above  all,  it  has  come  to  my  know- 
ledge that  several  young  Agnostics  have  been 
brought  to  Christ  by  reading  some  of  the  follow- 
ing sermons,  which  appeared  in  The  Methodist 
Times.  If  the  Divine  Father  is  pleased  to  use 
me  thus  to  bring  back  to  Himself  any  of  my 
wandering  brothers,  I  dare  not  consult  my  own 
taste  or  preference  any  longer. 

And  now  that  the  Rubicon  is  crossed,  I  am 
comforted  by  the  fact  that,  although  the  literary 
form  of  this  volume  must  bear  all  the  marks  of 
haste  inseparable  from  a  very  active  and  varied 
ministry,  the  exposition  of  Christianity  which  it 
contains  is  the  slow  fruit  of  a  lifetime  of  observa- 
tion, reflection,  and  experience.     I  am  thankful  to 


v'ui  Introduction. 


have  this  special  opportunity  of  once  more  ex- 
pressing an  intense  conviction  that  the  manhood 
of  Europe  has  been  to  a  fearful  extent  alienated 
from  Christianity  because  our  Christianity  has 
been  too  speculative,  too  sentimental,  too  in- 
dividualistic. 

In  our  reaction  from  mediaeval  ecclesiasticism 
we  have  gone  too  far.  We  have  practically 
neglected  the  fact  that  Christ  came  to  save  the 
Nation  as  well  as  the  Individual,  and  that  it  is  an 
essential  feature  of  His  mission  to  reconstruct 
human  society  on  a  basis  of  Justice  and  Love.  It 
has  been  well  said  that  "  the  power  of  love  as  the 
basis  of  a  State  has  not  yet  been  tried."  But 
Christ  rose  from  the  dead  to  try  it,  and  to  do  it. 

Mr.  Frederic  Harrison's  recent  New  Year's  Ad- 
dress to  the  Positivist  Society  was  full  of  profound 
and  melancholy  truth.  His  picture  of  the  existing 
social  condition  of  Europe  was  exact  and  vivid. 
Rightly  did  he  declare  that 

The  vast  empires  resting  iipon  bayonets  and  a  semi- 
bureaucracy  were  an  anachronism  and  an  incubus  upon  the 
true  development  of  national  life.  All  the  great  Powers 
were  monstrous  outgrowths  of  warlike  ambition  and  imperial 
pride  in  different  degrees  and  under  different  conditions. 
All  the  huge  military  systems  were  abnormal— the  morbid 
results  of  the  spirit  of  war  and  domination,  of  national 
selfishness  and  revolutionary  violence. 

The  English  apostle  of  Positivism  proceeded  to 


Introduction.  ix 


denounce  and  deplore  the  social  failure  of  modern 
Christianity  in  the  following  passage  : — 

In  a  healthy  state  of  things,  and  if  Christianity  were  equal 
to  its  proud  pretensions,  it  would  be  the  business  of  the 
great  white  races  of  Europe  gradually  to  raise  the  standard 
of  civilization  through  Asia  and  ultimately  through  Africa. 
But  what  was  seen  at  the  present  day  in  Africa  was  the  mere 
lust  of  conquest,  of  trade  gains,  of  lands  to  be  won  by  fight- 
ing, and  profits  to  be  snatched  by  fraud,  strength,  wealth, 
and  chicanery.  The  European  nations  who  were  racing 
against  each  other  for  the  most  tempting  slice  of  the  spoils 
of  Africa  were  acting  as  mere  buccaneers.  Soldiers,  pioneers, 
discoverers,  geographers,  travellers,  missionaries,  and  phil- 
anthropists, however  noble  might  be  the  character  and 
purpose  of  some  few  among  them,  were  all  really  engaged, 
along  with  the  journalist  and  the  pseudo-scientist  and  the 
merchant  who  hounded  them  on,  in  plundering  and  enslaving 
Africa,  in  crushing,  demoralizing,  and  degrading  the  African 
races.  For  a  remedy  against  such  widespread  evils  as 
Imperialism  and  social  unrest,  to  what  could  men  look? 
What  power  alone  could  control  forces  so  tremendous  and 
passions  so  wild?  What  could  it  be  but  religion?  The 
world  was  practically  without  religion,  and  nothing  but 
religion  could  save  the  world.  Christianity,  as  the  morality 
of  nations,  had  visibly  failed.  Socially  regarded,  it  did 
almost  nothing  to  control  the  state  of  expectant  war  and 
the  jealousies  of  nations.  The  dignitaries  of  the  national 
Christian  Church  were  to  be  seen  everywhere  blessing  the 
armies  of  emperors  and  kings,  and  offering  up  prayers  and 
thanksgivings  for  victories  and  conquests.  Did  the  repre- 
sentatives of  Jesus  of  Nazareth  do  anything  to  reduce  the 
number  of  men  in  arms,  or  to  adjourn  the  day  in  which  they 
would  be  engaged  in  the  most  tremendous  and  bloody  war 
known  in  history  ?     Did  they  mitigate  the  social  warfare  of 


Introduction. 


classes,  and  the  selfishness  of  wealth,  or  check  the  spoliation 
and  enslavement  of  Africa  ?  It  was  very  much  the  fashion 
at  present  to  trust  to  the  spirit  of  the  age  to  remedy  all  evils 
and  to  bring  about  ultimate  happiness.  It  was  trusting  to 
a  broken  reed.  There  was  as  much  and  more  need  of 
religion  than  ever.  Morality  by  itself  was  not  wide,  potent, 
or  systematic  enough  to  stand  the  strain.  It  did  not  supply 
a  complete  philosophy  of  life.  It  did  not  fire  the  imagination, 
standing  between  man  and  the  world,  and  explaining  the 
world.  It  was  now  a  hundred  years  since  the  new  system 
had  been  visibly  inaugurated,  and  during  that  hundred  years 
what  failures,  wars,  and  revolutions,  what  endless  unrest  and 
what  noble  strivings,  were  recorded  !  And  without  some  new 
element  why  should  not  another  hundred  or  a  thousand 
years  pass  in  the  same  cross  purposes  and  failures  and  blind 
useless  strivings  ?  The  iSth  and  19th  centuries  were  marked 
as  the  only  epochs  in  the  history  of  mankind  in  which  the 
most  persistent  strivings  towards  social  and  moral  improve- 
ment in  a  systematic  way  had  been  manifested.  Genius, 
devotion,  and  loftiness  of  aim  had  not  been  wanting.  Yet 
how  wasted  the  effort  and  how  increasing  the  discord  !  In 
France  noble  efforts  had  been  made  to  close  the  work  of 
the  Revolution  ;  but  why  was  France  this  day  in  terror, 
anger,  and  unrest,  torn  by  faction,  without  statesmen  or 
a  stable  system,  ringing  with  recrimination,  and  the  seat  of 
a  peculiarly  foul  form  of  moral  corruption  ?  Why  was  this 
the  result  of  one  hundred  years  of  revolution,  of  the  heroic 
hopes  and  undying  aspirations  of  a  most  generous  people? 
France  had  undertaken  the  most  arduous  of  all  tasks  with- 
out religion,  a  task  which  was  impossible  without  religion — 
the  task  of  recasting  society  and  refounding  the  nation. 
With  genius,  energy,  and  a  desire  for  good  things,  there  was 
an  absence  of  moral  force.  No  one  was  content,  no  one 
was  hopeful.     There  was  neither  confidence  nor  happiness. 

Jt  is  impossible  to  answer  Mr.  Frederic  Harri- 


Introduction .  x  t 

son's  impeachment  of  ecclesiastical  Christianity, 
although  some  of  his  detailed  statements  are  ques- 
tionable. His  energetic  address  strikingly  resem- 
bles the  sermons  and  pamphlets  with  which  John 
Wesley  startled  England  a  century  ago.  It  is 
characterized  by  the  same  plain  and  trenchant 
English,  the  same  hatred  of  sham  and  humbug,  the 
same  fearless  denunciation  of  ecclesiastical  neglect 
and  callousness,  the  same  passionate  love  of  the 
masses  of  the  people.  Would  to  God  that  Mr. 
Frederick  Harrison  had  that  personal  knowledge 
of  the  living  Christ  which  enabled  John  Wesley  to 
discriminate  between  ecclesiastical,  conventional, 
perfunctory  Christianity,  and  the  Christianity  of 
Christ !  But  Mr.  Harrison  is  not  far  from  the 
Kingdom  of  God.  He  realizes  that  what  Europe 
needs  above  everything  else  is  social  religion. 
What  could  be  more  significant  or  more  hopeful 
than  the  frank  and  noble  sentiments  of  the  closing 
section  of  the  address  ? 

Europe  was  craving  for  religion  to  knit  up  its  efforts  and 
renew  its  hopes,  for  now  there  was  no  consensus  and  no  sign 
of  it.  Theology  and  science  stood  apparently  in  a  hopeless 
deadlock,  where  neither  could  crush  the  other  or  free  itself 
from  the  other's  grasp  ;  and  capital  and  labour,  inseparably 
bound  together  as  they  were,  were  yet  striking  terrible  blows 
at  each  other.  If  the  old  theology  could  really  cure  all  these 
evils  at  last,  or  only  begin  to  deal  with  them,  in  heaven's 
name  let  it  do  so  quickly,  and  all  would  welcome  the 
triumph.  The  power  of  Christianity  for  the  moral  life  of 
the  individual  was  one  which  Positivism  had  always  recog- 


xii  Introduction. 


nised  ;  but  the  power  of  Christianity  for  the  intellectual, 
scientific,  or  political  life  of  nations  in  a  revolutionary  age, 
or  for  the  industrial  life  of  the  present  generation,  was  the 
problem  of  the  day.  It  was  there  that  Christianity  not 
only  failed,  but  was  criminally  complacent  to  the  evils. 

The  following  sermons  are  a  brief  and  fra^- 
mentary  attempt  to  show  that  the  social  failure  of 
Christianity  is  not  the  fault  of  Christianity  or  of 
Christ,  but  of  us  Christians  who  have  been  selfishly 
individualistic.  Bushnell's  felicitous  epigram  is 
indeed  true  :  "  The  soul  of  all  improvement  is  the 
improvement  of  the  soul."  But  that  is  the  begin- 
ning, not  the  end  of  our  work.  We  must  not  be 
"so  busy  saving  souls  that  we  have  no  time  to 
save  men  and  women."  We  must  not  forget  that 
"  all  authority  "  is  given  to  our  Lord  Jesus  Christ 
"on  earth  "  as  well  as  "in  heaven  "  ;  and  that  our 
work  will  never  be  completed  until  the  prayer 
which  He  Himself  taught  us  is  fulfilled,  and  the 
will  of  God  is  done  on  earth  as  angels  do  it  in 
heaven. 

Already  there  are  many  hopeful  signs.  Canon 
Westcott  is  not  alone  in  realizing  that  "  we  are 
suffering  on  all  sides  from  a  tyrannical  individual- 
ism." Many  have  already  come  round  to  Charles 
Kingsley's  "  belief  that  not  self-interest  but  self- 
sacrifice  is  the  only  law  upon  which  human  society 
can  be  grounded  with  any  hope  of  prosperity  and 


Introduction.  xiu 


permanence."     One   of  the  best   and  most  useful 
events  of  this  new  year  is  the  proposal  just  made 
by  Lord  Nelson,  first  in  Church  Bells  and  then  in 
the  Contemporary  Review,  that  all  Christians,  how- 
ever widely  they  may  differ  on  theological  and 
ecclesiastical  topics,  should  co-operate  in  the  pro- 
motion of  Social  Christianity.     It  is  impossible  to 
exaggerate  the  importance  and  blessedness  of  this 
proposal.      We    Christians,    when    we    unite    our 
forces,  are  simply  irresistible.     Let  us,  then,  in  the 
name  of  God  and  humanity,  combine  heartily  to 
abolish    Slavery,    Drunkenness,    Lust,    Gambling, 
Ignorance,    Pauperism,    Mammonism,    and    War. 
After  that  is  done,  we  shall  not  have  much  diffi- 
culty in  settling  all  our  theological  and  ecclesiastical 
differences ;  and  the  glory  of  God,  which   is  the 
happiness  of  men,  will  fill  the  whole  earth. 

HUGH    PRICE    HUGHES. 

8,  Taviton  Street, 

Gordon  Square,  W.C. 

March,  1889. 


CONTENTS, 
i. 

Jesus  Christ  and  the  Masses. 

St.  |fhttbefo  "■  36-  pagh 

''  When  He  saw  the  multitudes,  He  was  moved  with  compassion 
fur  them "  .........         3 

II. 

Jesus  Christ  and  Social  Distress. 
St.  UTattbcto  xiv.  16 
"  They  have  no  need  to  go  away  ;  give  ye  them  to  eat "         .  1 9 

III. 
The  Supremacy  of  the  Law  of  Christ. 
§Uts  v.  29. 
"  We  must  obey  God  ral/ier  than  men"       .....       37 

IV. 

Christ  the  Greatest  of  Social  Reformers. 

St.  % uhe  xii.  15. 

"A  man's  life  consisteth  not   in  the  abundance  of  the  things 
which  he possesseth" 53 


xvi  Contents. 


V.  PAGE 

The  Career  of  the  First  German  Emperor. 

I  Jtings  xxii.  45. 

"  Now  the  rest  of  the  acts  of  Jehoshaphat,  and  his  might  that  he 
showed,  and  how  he  warred,  are  they  not  written  in  the  book  of  the 
chronicles  of  the  kings  of  J 'udahf" °7 

VI. 

General  Gordon's  Idea  of  Christianity. 

1  $otm  iv.  15. 

"  II  liosoevcr  shall  confess  that  Jesus  is  the  Son  of  God,  God  abideth 
in  him,  and  he  in  God" 83 

VII. 

"Robert  Elsmere"  and  Mr.  Gladstone's  Criticism 
of  the  Book. 

1  $obu  v.  12. 

"He  that  hath  the  Son  hath  the  life  ;  he  that  hath  not  the  Son  of 
God  hath  not  the  life" 95 


VIII. 

The  Problem  for  Unbelief. 

girts  v.  32. 

"And  we  are  witnesses  of  these  things;  and  so  is  the  Holy  Ghost, 
whom  God  hath  given  to  them  that  obey  Him "  .         .         .109 

IX. 

Christianity  not  a  Doctrine  or  an  Ethical  System, 
but  a  New  Life. 

St.  |obtt  iii.  7. 

" Marvel  not  that  I  said  unto  thee,  Ye  must  be  born  an ew"        .     mi 


Contents.  xvii 


x. 

National  Character  Determined  by  the  National 
Laws. 

gkutcronomig  iv.  5-8. 

PAGE 

"Behold,  I  have  taught  you  statutes  and  judgements,  even  as  the 
Lord  my  God  commanded  me,  that  ye  should  do  so  in  the  land 
whither  ye  go  in  to  possess  it.  Keep  thercfo7-e  and  do  them  :  for  this 
is  your  wisdom  and  your  understanding  in  the  sight  of  the  peoples, 
which  shall  hear  all  these  statutes,  and  say,  Surely  this  great 
nation  is  a  wise  and  understanding  people.  For  what  great  nation 
is  there,  that  hath  a  god  so  nigh  unto  them,  as  the  Lord  our  God  is 
whensoever  we  call  upon  Him?  And  what  great  nation  is  there 
that  hath  statutes  and  judgements  so  righteous  as  all  this  law, 
which  I  set  before  you  this  day  f" 135 

XI. 

The  Administration  of  Justice. 

Isuinlj  i.  26,  27. 

"And  I  'Mill  restore  thy  judges  as  at  the  first,  and  thy  counsellors 
as  at  the  beginning :  afterward  thou  shall  be  called  The  city  of 
righteousness,  the  faithful  city.  Zion  shall  be  redeemed  with  judge- 
ment, and  her  converts  with  righteousness"    151 

XII. 

Our  Duty  in  Relation  to  the  Licensing  Clauses  of  the 
Local  Government  Bill. 

Jlrobcrbs  xx ix.  7. 

"  The  righteous  taketh  knowledge  of  the  cause  of  the  poor :  the 
wicked  hath  not  understanding  to  knoio  it"   .        ,        .        ,         .     167 

XIII. 
The  Second  German  Emferor,  Frederick  III. 
glclicmkilj  xiii.  26. 
••  Among  many  nations  zoas  there  no  Icing  like  him  "  .        .        .    1S1 

b 


xvili  Contents. 


XIV. 

The  Authority  of  Christ 

St.  gfattbcfe  vii.  28,  29. 

PAGE 

"The  multitudes  were  astonished  at  His  teaching :  for  He  taught 

them  as  one  having  authority,  and  not  as  their  scribes  "  .        ,        .     197 

XV. 

The  Brotherliness  of  Jesus  Christ. 
St.  |tt;ittbcfe  xvi.  13. 
"IVho  do  men  say  that  the  Son  of Man  is?"      »        .       •        .    209 

XVI. 

The  Hopefulness  of  Jesus  Christ. 
St.  f  ulie  x.  iS. 

"  /  beheld  Satan  fallen  as  lightning  from  heaven"     ,        ,         .     223 

XVII. 

Buddha  or  Christ— Which  ? 

2  Corinthians  v.  14,  15. 

"One  died  for  all,  therefore  all  died;  and  He  died  for  all,  that 
they  which  live  should  no  longer  live  unto  themselves,  but  unto  Him 
who  for  their  sakes  died  and  rose  again  " 237 

XVIII. 

SCHOPENHAUER  OR  CHRIST— WHICH  ? 

^Isalm  xl.  S. 
" I  delight  to  do  Thy  will,  0  my  God"        .....     247 


Contents.  xix 


XIX. 
Gambling. 
i  Corinthians  x.  24.  pace 

"Let  no  man  seek  his  own,  but  each  his  neighbour's  good''  ,        „    257 

XX. 

A  Timely  Warning. 
Ucbrcfos  vi.  6. 
"Impossible' 271 


JESUS  CHRIST  AND    THE  MASSES. 


Preached  in  St.  James  s  Hall,  Sunday  afternoon, 
Oct.  301/1,  1887. 


JESUS   CHRIST  AND   THE   MASSES. 

"ll'/icn  He  saw  the  multitudes,  He  was  moved  with  compassion  for 
them" — St.  Matt.  ix.  36. 

OUR  subject  this  afternoon  is  "  Jesus  Christ 
and  the  Masses :  what  He  thought  of  the 
Masses  of  the  People."  Jesus  Christ  was  essen- 
tially a  man  of  the  People — a  working  man.  He 
spent  all  His  days  among  the  poor  ;  and  after  His 
public  life  had  begun  He  almost  lived  in  the  crowd. 
He  was  constantly  surrounded  by  the  crowd. 
Nothing  is  more  characteristic  of  Jesus  Christ  than 
the  familiar  saying  that  "The  common  people  heard 
Him  gladly."  Therefore  when  we  come  across 
anybody  whom  the  common  people  do  not  hear 
gladly,  he  may  be  a  very  estimable  man,  but  we 
know  that  he  is  not  like  Jesus  Christ.  I  was  very 
much  struck  by  a  remark  I  heard  in  Scotland 
about  an  undoubted  Christian.  Some  one  said  of 
him  :  "He  is  a  very  good  man,  but  he  does  not 
remind  me  of  Jesus  Christ."  How  many  good 
men  there  arc  who  are  really  very  good  men, 
but  who  do  not  remind  us  of  Jesus !  No  man 
can  really  remind  us  of  the  Jesus  of  the  Gospel 


Social  Christianity. 


unless  he  loves  the  people,  and  is  loved  by  the 
people.  I  admit  the  truth  of  Tennyson's  awful 
impeachment  that  "the  Churches  have  kill'd  their 
Christ,"  and  that  we  have  presented  to  the  masses 
of  the  European  peoples  all  sorts  of  false  Christs, 
caricatures  of  Christ.  But  the  real  Christ  is  one 
who,  when  seen,  attracts  the  crowd  everywhere. 
Wherever  Jesus  went  He  was  surrounded  by  the 
multitude. 

It  is  only  within  the  last  few  years  that  I  have 
noticed  the  beautiful  and  significant  fact  that  in 
nearly  every  instance  in  which  we  find  Jesus  Christ 
face  to  face  with  the  multitude,  the  Evangelist 
tells  us  that  He  was  "moved  with  compassion." 
When  Jesus  Christ  saw  a  crowd  His  heart  yearned 
over  them.  He  pitied  them.  When  you  saw  the 
crowd  on  Lord  Mayor's  Day,  what  was  your  feel- 
ing? When  you  saw  the  crowd  on  Jubilee  Day, 
what  was  your  feeling  ?  If  Christ  had  been  in  the 
window  of  some  house  in  Trafalgar  Square,  His 
feeling  would  have  been  one  of  pity.  When  Jesus 
Christ  saw  a  great  crowd,  He  was  moved  with 
compassion.  Mark  it  well — not  with  hatred  ;  not 
with  fear.  It  is  the  invariable  tendency  of  heathen- 
ism, both  ancient  and  modern,  to  hate  and  to  fear 
the  people.  Horace  was  a  fine  old  Roman  gentle- 
man, and  a  worthy  representative  of  many  a  fine 
English  gentleman  of  the  present  day.     Not  a  few 


Jesus  Christ  and  the  Masses.  5 

of  those  who  are  found  in  the  West-end  clubs  of 
this  very  city  would  feel  very  much  at  home  in  the 
society  of  Horace.  His  views  and  theirs  are  re- 
markably alike.  Horace  honestly  enough  begins 
one  of  his  best-known  odes  with  these  words  :  "  I 
hate  the  vulgar  crowd,  and  keep  them  at  a  dis- 
tance." The  illustrious  Frenchman,  Ernest  Renan, 
who  has  a  passionate  and  almost  idolatrous  admira- 
tion for  the  old  Greek  civilization,  and  who,  in  a 
memorable  passage,  bitterly  regrets  that  Paul  ever 
went  to  Athens  to  destroy  it,  acknowledges,  in  a 
work  now  passing  through  the  press,  that  the  Greek 
civilization,  with  all  its  refinement  and  culture, 
utterly  failed  in  this :  that  the  thinkers  and  states- 
men of  Greece  had  no  compassion  for  the  multi- 
tude. Their  policy  was  alternately  to  bribe  and 
to  massacre  the  masses  of  the  people.  Heathen 
statesmanship  had  no  better  method  then,  and  it 
has  no  better  method  now. 

The  best  excuse  we  can  offer  for  politicians  of 
all  classes,  and  of  all  sections  and  positions  in 
society,  who  either  hate  or  fear  the  masses  of  the 
people,  is  that  they  do  not  know  the  people.  One 
of  the  greatest  calamities  of  the  existing  social 
condition  of  this  country  is  that  between  us 
■ — who  I  suppose  all  belong  to  the  privileged 
and  fortunate  classes — and  the  masses  of  the  suf- 
fering poor  there  is  too  often  a  great  gulf  fixed. 


Social  Christianity. 


We  know  very  little  of  them,  and  they  know  very 
little  of  us.  As  one  has  well  said  :  "  Beneath  the 
sea  there  is  another  sea."  You  may  be  a  large 
employer  of  labour,  but  what  do  you  know  about 
the  men  and  women  you  employ  ?  Between  you 
and  them  there  exists  too  frequently  only  what 
Carlyle,  in  his  grim,  vivid  way,  calls  a  "cash- nexus." 
They  come  on  Friday  or  Saturday  for  their  wages. 
They  get  so  much  money  for  so  many  hours' 
work,  paid  through  a  hole  in  the  office  window. 
If  you  do  not  want  them  any  longer,  you  give  them 
notice  to  quit ;  and,  in  the  same  way,  if  they  do 
not  wish  to  remain  with  you,  they  give  you 
notice. 

That  is  the  beginning  and  that  is  the  end  of  too 
much  of  the  existing  social  relation  between  Cap- 
ital and  Labour. 

And  as  regards  the  different  sections  of  English 
society,  in  some  respects  the  situation  is  getting 
worse  and  worse  ;  for  the  strong  tendency  to-day 
is  for  those  who  are  in  a  better  social  position  to 
leave  the  crowded  centres  and  go  and  live  in  plea- 
sant suburban  villas,  where  they  can  have  a  garden. 
I  do  not  blame  them.  It  is  more  healthy.  It  is 
an  advantage  to  their  wives  and  children,  but  it 
is  a  very  calamitous  thing.  In  London  at  this 
moment  the  poorer  districts  are  growing  poorer  and 
poorer,  and  those  who  ought  to  mingle  with  the 


Jesus  Christ  and  the  Masses.  7 

less   privileged    are  several  miles  off.     The  Bible 
says  :  "  TJtc  rich  and  the  poor  meet  together"  ;  but 
they  do  so  no  longer.     As  one  has  wittily  said, 
in  the  present  day  we  put  the  yeast  into  one  pan 
and  the  dough  into  another,  and  then  expect  the 
dough    to  rise.      I  am  profoundly  convinced  that 
this  must  be  altered,  and   Christians  of  the  privi- 
leged   class  must,  in  the  Spirit  of    Christ,  come 
back  from  the  suburbs  and  live  among  the  masses 
of  the  people.     There  is  one  Christ-like  man  in  the 
East-end — Mr.  Barnett,  the  Vicar  of  Whitechapel 
— who  is  promoting  this.     He  told  me  some  time 
ago  that  several  gentlemen  of  position,  who  could 
choose    their  own  residences  in  wealthy  quarters, 
have,  in  the  most  Christ-like  spirit,  resolved  to  go 
down  to  Whitechapel,  to  live  among  the  poor.     1 
heard  the  other  day  of  a  shrewd  solicitor  in  Bristol, 
who  came  to  the  conclusion  that  he  was  demoraliz- 
ing his  own  children  by  living  in   Clifton,  where 
they   had    nothing  to  do,  nothing  to  resist    their 
natural  selfishness,  nothing  to  draw  out  real  sym- 
pathy   with    their    less    privileged    fellow-citizens ; 
and    positively  for  the  sake  of  his  own  sons  and 
daughters  he  went  back  to  live  in  the  very  centre 
of  crowded  Bristol,  that  they  might  be  taught  to 
be  unselfish  and  Christ-like.     And  it  may  be  the 
duty  of  some  of  you  who  hear  me  now  to  come 
back  from  your  suburban  residences  to  live  here 


8  Social  Christianity. 

with  us  in  the  midst  of  the  people  and  to  promote 
their  happiness. 

I  am  quite  sure  the  suspicion  and  dread  which 
rise  in  many  minds  with  respect  to  the  masses  of 
the  people  would  disappear  if  we  knew  them  better. 
Victor  Hugo  is  right  when  he  says  :  "  Mix  with  the 
people  and  love  them,  and  you  will  trust  them." 
Do  not  be  afraid  of  the  roaring  and  advancing  tide 
of  democracy.  Rush  into  the  midst  of  it,  take  a 
header  into  it — to  use  the  phrase  Mr.  Spurgeon 
employed  in  this  place  the  other  day.  Mix  freely 
with  the  people.  It  will  help  to  purify  you  of  your 
innate  selfishness,  and  you  will  come  out  of  the 
crowd  glowing  with  the  enthusiasm  of  humanity. 
This  at  any  rate  is  true :  when  Jesus  Christ 
saw  the  people  He  had  compassion  on  them. 
When  He  looked  at  Jerusalem  He  wept  over 
it.  Why  ?  Why  did  the  masses  of  the  people 
excite  in  the  heart  of  Jesus  Christ  not  hatred, 
not  fear,  but  deep  pity  ?  St.  Matthew  tells  us 
that  when  He  saw  the  multitude  He  was 
moved  with  compassion  because  they  were  "dis- 
tressed and  scattered  " ;  or,  as  it  is  rendered  by 
other  scholars,  because  they  were  "harassed  and 
neglected." 

And  that  is  more  true  to-day  than  it  was  then. 
The  masses  of  the  people  even  in  London  are 
harassed  and  neglected.     They  are  harassed  by  the 


Jesus  Christ  and  tJie  Masses.  9 

dogs  of  hell,  who  take  advantage  of  their  poverty 
and  of  their  helplessness.  Oh,  the  anguish  of  the 
starving  poor  !  It  seems  to  them  as  though  every 
man's  hand  was  against  them.  While  they  are 
worried,  badgered,  and  harassed  by  those  whom 
they  too  frequently  meet,  they  are  neglected  by 
you — the  wise  and  the  good  !  Oh,  how  ignorant 
they  are  !  how  helpless  !  how  miserable  !  and  how 
often  may  they  truly  say  in  the  bitterness  of  their 
hearts  :  "  No  man  careth  for  our  souls  "  !  It  is 
almost  impossible  for  some  of  us,  even  by  the  most 
desperate  effort  of  the  imagination,  to  enter  into 
the  feelings  of  the  suffering  and  starving  poor.  I 
shall  never  forget  the  revealing  word  which  my 
friend,  Mr.  Henry  Broadhurst,  uttered  to  me  two 
years  ago.  Looking  at  me  as  I  sat  on  the  other 
side  of  his  fire-place  at  Brixton,  he  said  :  "  Why, 
you  don't  know  what  hunger  is.  You  have  never 
been  hungry  in  your  life";  and  as  I  reflected  I 
felt  it  was  true.  I  had  been  what  we  call  hungry, 
but  the  hunger  of  the  starving  poor,  who  go  for 
days  without  bread,  I  had  never  felt  ;  and  I  should 
like  to  know  how  many  persons  there  are  in  this 
hall  to-day  who  have  ever  experienced  the  gnaw- 
ings  of  an  unendurable  hunger.  Alas  !  alas  !  that 
in  this  great  London  there  should  be  so  many 
thousands  whose  whole  life  is  absorbed  in  a  des- 
perate   attempt    to  keep   their  heads  just    above 


io  Social  Christianity. 

water.     Oh,  the  sufferings  of  the  respectable  poor, 
of  those  of  whom  you  never  hear  ! 

I  am  reminded  at  this  moment  of  a  terrible 
instance  which  came  under  my  notice  some  time 
ago.  A  girl  who  had  been  a  superior  servant  in  a 
gentleman's  house,  and  had  enjoyed  comfort  and 
even  luxury  there,  married  an  artisan  in  every  way 
worthy  of  her.  In  the  terrible  depression  of  trade 
and  prolonged  distress  he  was  for  many  months 
out  of  work,  and  gradually  all  their  savings  dis- 
appeared. They  owed  many  pounds  to  their  land- 
lady, their  butcher,  and  their  baker.  Nearly  all 
their  clothes  were  pawned,  and  they  shivered  in 
the  winter  cold.  At  last  came  the  day  when  the 
baker  called  and  said  he  could  not  afford  to  give 
them  any  more  bread  on  trust.  I  know  not  for 
how  many  weeks  they  owed  him  then,  and  it  was 
to  his  credit  that  he  had  given  them  so  much. 
Yet  for  the  three  weeks  which  preceded  that  day 
the  whole  family  had  nothing  but  bread  and  water. 
And,  oh,  my  God  !  that  young  woman  was  expect- 
ing to  be  a  mother  every  day,  and  she  knew  not 
what  to  do.  In  the  most  extraordinary  manner, 
doubtless  by  the  intervention  of  God,  my  wife  was 
directed  to  her  house,  and  the  case  was  relieved. 
But  think  of  the  anguish  of  that  poor  woman  with 
her  starving  children  !  When  we  saw  the  man  he 
was  half-starved;  and  he  had  wandered  miles  every 


Jesus  Christ  and  the  Masses.  1 1 

day  looking  for  work.  Who  could  enter  into  the 
feelings  of  that  poor  woman  in  her  time  of  anguish? 
She  had  suffered  through  no  fault  of  her  own  ; 
neither  was  her  husband  a  drunkard.  Here  was 
the  case  of  a  man  seeing  his  wife  and  children 
dying  under  his  eyes.  Some  people  will  say 
"  Why  did  they  not  go  to  the  workhouse  ?  "  What ! 
Break  up  their  home  and  have  upon  them  the 
brand  of  the  pauper  ? 

And  what  shall  we  say  of  these  poor  girls  in 
London,  who  are  making  a  living — or,  as  Miss 
Rye  rightly  names  it,  "  a  starving  " — by  earning 
five  shillings  a  week,  and  that  at  the  cost  of  stitch- 
ing for  twelve  or  fourteen  hours  every  day  ?  I 
entirely  agree  with  the  opinion  expressed  by  my 
friend,  Mark  Guy  Pearse,  this  morning,  when  he 
said  that  if  this  was  Christianity,  the  sooner  we 
got  rid  of  Christianity  the  better.  We  may  attend 
prayer-meetings  and  sing  psalms  until  we  are  black 
in  the  face,  but  if  we  do  not  deal  with  such  social 
evils  we  are  neglecting  our  duty.  We  have  too 
long  overlooked  the  misery  of  the  suffering  and 
starving  poor.  Who  can  enter  into  the  feeling 
of  some  poor  orphan  girl  of  the  class  to  which  I 
have  referred  ?  There  was,  some  time  ago,  in 
The  Spectator,  a  little  poem,  which  attempts  to 
describe  the  condition  of  such  a  girl.  Let  me  read 
it  to  you  :— « 


1 2  Social  Christianity. 

"Left  there,  nobody's  daughter, 
Child  of  disgrace  and  shame, 
Nobody  ever  taught  her 
A  mother's  sweet  saving  name : 

Nobody  ever  caring 
Whether  she  stood  or  fell, 

And  men  (are  they  men?)  ensnaring 
With  the  arts  and  the  gold  of  hell ! 

Stitching  with  ceaseless  labour 
To  earn  her  pitiful  bread  ; 

Begging  a  crust  of  a  neighbour, 
And  getting  a  curse  instead  ! 

All  through  the  long,  hot  summer, 
All  through  the  cold,  dark  time, 

With  fingers  that  numb  and  number 
Grow,  white  as  the  frost's  white  rime. 

Nobody  ever  conceiving 
The  throb  of  that  warm  young  life, 

Nobody  ever  believing 

The  strain  of  that  terrible  strife  ! 

Nobody  kind  words  pouring 
In  that  orphan  heart's  sad  ear  ; 

But  all  of  us  all  ignoring 

What  lies  at  our  door  so  near  ! 

O  sister  !  down  in  the  alley, 
Pale  with  the  downcast  eye, 

Dark  and  drear  is  the  valley, 

But  the  stars  shine  forth  on  high. 

Nobody  here  may  love  thee, 
Or  care  if  thou  stand  or  fall  ; 

But  the  great,  good  God  above  thee, 
He  watches  and  cares  for  all," 


Jesus  Christ  and  tJiv  Masses.  13 

And  we  may  add  that  the  man  who  professes  to 
be  a  child  of  that  God,  but  does  not  "  care  for  all," 
is  deceiving  his  own  soul.  lie  is  not  the  brother 
of  Jesus  Christ,  who 

".  .  .  into  His  heart,  with  large  embrace,  has  taken 
The  universal  sorrow  of  mankind." 

So  much  depends  upon  occupying  Christ's 
standpoint.  If  you  are  at  the  standpoint  of  some 
doctrinaire  political  economist,  or  of  some  thought- 
less writer  who  has  never  known  what  hunger 
means,  you  may  pour  forth  column  after  column  of 
heartless  folly.  But  if  you  know  the  suffering  of 
the  poor  as  Christ  knows  it,  you  will  pity  them. 
Have  you  ever  thought  of  the  tender  and  charit- 
able meaning  of  that  oft-quoted  passage  in  the 
book  of  the  prophet  Isaiah,  where  God  puts  this 
confession  into  our  lips  :  "  All  we  like  sheep  have 
gone  astray  "  ?  Like  sheep,  not  like  wolves.  We 
are  accused  of  ignorance,  of  stupidity,  of  heedless- 
ness, rather  than  of  malice  prepense,  or  of  downright 
and  deliberate  wickedness.  There  is  a  great  deal 
more  of  the  sheep  than  of  the  wolf  in  sinners  ; 
especially  in  those  who,  humanly  speaking,  have 
never  had  a  chance  ;  who  have  been  the  victims 
from  the  very  first  of  unfavourable  circumstances  ; 
who,  in  the  terrible  language  of  Charles  Kingsley, 
have  been  "  damned  from  their  birth."     And,  my 


H  Social  Christianity. 


dear  friend,  do  not  flatter  yourself  too  much  if  you 
are  better  than  they.  You  might  have  been  in 
their  position.  That  was  a  wise  saying  of  good 
John  Newton's  when  he  saw  a  handcuffed  man 
walking  along  in  charge  of  a  constable  :  "  There, 
but  for  the  grace  of  God,  goes  John  Newton." 
If  I  had  to  watch  my  wife  and  children  starving 
under  my  eyes,  I  do  not  know  what  I  should  say 
in  Trafalgar  Square.  Let  us  not  take  too  much 
credit  to  ourselves  for  the  position  we  occupy. 
We  owe  a  great  deal  more  to  our  circumstances, 
to  our  social  privileges  and  safeguards,  than  we 
sometimes  imagine.  The  teaching  of  this  Book 
commends  itself  to  every  good  man's  reason. 

We — society  at  large — must  take  a  big  share 
of  the  blame  for  the  sin  and  folly  of  those  who 
break  the  law.  There  was  a  good  old  Saxon  rule 
in  this  country  many  years  ago  :  when  anybody 
did  something  wrong  in  a  parish,  every  parishioner 
was  fined  for  it — a  most  excellent  rule,  founded 
upon  profound  reasons.  I  should  like  to  have  it 
reinforced.  As  Mark  Guy  Pearse  said  this  morn- 
ing, how  can  you  expect  virtue  and  morality  from 
people  living  in  one  room  ?  Have  you  done  your 
best  to  put  the  right  men  in  the  Vestry  and  on  the 
Board  of  Guardians  ?  All  our  hearts  were  moved 
to-day  when  Mr.  Pearse  gave  us  a  touching  de- 
scription of  the  awful  circumstances  of  thousands 


Jcstis  Christ  and  the  Masses.  15 

of  people  in  London  who  have  to  herd  together  in 
one  room,  where  common  decency  is  impossible. 
It  can  never  be  "a  home."  The  Vestries  will 
not  move  in  these  matters.  Too  many  vestrymen 
are  elected  to  represent  selfish  interests.  Not  a 
few  Christians  think  that  if  they  attend  prayer- 
meetings  they  are  doing  their  duty.  But  let  me 
remind  you  that  you  are  partially  responsible  for 
every  unsanitary  dwelling  in  the  place  where  you 
live.  A  part  of  true  religion  consists  in  securing 
laws  which  will  absolutely  prohibit  such  buildings  ; 
and  in  electing  to  positions  of  authority  men  who 
will  not  permit  them  to  remain  a  dead  letter. 

There  are  only  two  alternatives  before  us  to-day 
— Christianity  or  revolution.  What  can  we  do  ? 
A  thousand  things.  If  you  will  come  here  on 
Sunday  afternoons,  I  will  tell  you  a  few  of  those 
things  in  plain  English.  At  any  rate,  let  us  do 
this  one  thing.  Let  us  place  ourselves  at  the  right 
point  of  view.  Let  us  look  at  the  masses  of  the 
people  through  the  compassionate  eyes  of  Jesus 
Christ.  I  felt  humiliated  a  few  years  ago  when  I 
read  that  it  was  the  duty  of  every  Buddhist  priest 
in  Asia  to  spend  some  time  each  day  in  contem- 
plating the  misery  of  mankind,  in  order  that  his 
sympathy  might  be  aroused.  It  occurred  to  me 
that  I  should  do  well  to  imitate  the  Buddhist  priest 
in   that.     Let   us    reserve  some   sacred    moments 


1 6  Social  Christianity. 

every  day  to  contemplate,  through  Christ's  com- 
passionate eyes,  the  sin  and  the  misery  of  mankind. 
When  our  hearts  are  moved  we  shall  soon  discover 
some  method,  great  or  small,  of  relieving  that 
misery  and  that  sin.  Then  assuredly,  as  we  were 
reminded  by  the  Lesson,  an  hour  will  come  when 
the  voice  of  Christ  will  say  :  "  Inasmuch  as  ye 
did  it  unto  one  of  the  homeless  poor  in  Trafalgar 
Square,  or  unto  one  of  the  down-trodden  harlots 
in  Piccadilly,  ye  did  it  unto  Me." 


II. 

JESUS   CHRIST  AND  SOCIAL  D I  SIR  ESS. 


Preached  in  St.  James's  Hall,  Sunday  Afternoon, 
November  6th,  1S87. 


II. 

JESUS   CHRIST  AND  SOCIAL  DISTRESS. 

"  They  have  no  need  to  go  away  ;  give  ye  them  to  eat"— St.  Matt. 
xiv.  16. 

LAST  Monday  I  received  a  letter  from  an  ex- 
cellent Christian  gentleman,  who  said  that  he 
went  away  from  this  Hall  last  Sunday  afternoon 
"  very  much  grieved."  He  was  delighted  to  see  so 
large  a  congregation :  he  rejoiced  at  the  opportunity 
which  was  given  me  of  preaching  the  Gospel. 
But  instead  of  "preaching  the  Gospel,"  I  talked 
about  the  duty  of  citizens  to  elect  vestrymen  who 
would  close  unsanitary  dwellings,  and  otherwise  dis- 
charge their  public  functions  :  and  as  the  result  he 
adds  that  it  is  only  too  possible  that  some  who 
heard  me,  and  might  have  been  saved,  are  now  "  in 
hell  suffering  the  torments  of  the  damned."  I  feel 
extremely  thankful  to  that  good  man  for  giving 
me  such  sincere  advice,  and  I  have  the  deepest 
sympathy  with  him.  Twenty  years  ago  I  should 
have  said  just  the  same  thing  if  I  had  come  to 
this  Hall   and  heard  any  minister  talk  as  I  talked 


20  Social  Christianity. 

last  Sunday.  There  is  no  doubt  that  my  corres- 
pondent, who  is  probably  a  much  better  Chris- 
tian than  I  am,  represents  thousands  of  some  of 
the  best  Christians  in  England  ;  and  yet  I  say 
deliberately  that  I  come  here,  on  Sunday  afternoon, 
to  argue  before  you,  before  the  open  Bible,  and  be- 
fore Jesus  Christ,  that  the  view  which  my  correspon- 
dent holds  is  one  of  the  most  dangerous  ever  enter- 
tained by  Christian  men ;  that  it  was  the  main 
reason  why  the  French  Revolution  became  a 
Reign  of  Terror  ;  and  that  it  is  now  the  principal 
cause  of  the  menacing  advance  of  atheistic  Social- 
ism, Communism,  and  Nihilism  in  Europe. 

Not  that  I  under-estimate  the  importance  of  the 
kind  of  preaching  that  he  wishes  to  have  on  every 
occasion  that  a  Christian  minister  opens  his  mouth. 
Once  only  during  the  whole  week  do  I  propose  to 
deal  specially  with  the  Social  aspects  of  Christian- 
ity. If  every  day  of  the  week  and  twice  on  Sun- 
day we  preach  the  Gospel  even  to  his  satisfaction, 
may  I  not  be  permitted  for  this  one  brief  hour, 
without  neglecting  any  other  duty  of  my  sacred 
office,  to  deal  with  that  public  application  of  the 
Gospel  which  has  been  so  long  and  so  perilously 
neglected  by  those  who  are  the  followers  of  Jesus 
Christ  ?  Ever  since  I  was  a  boy  one  fact  has  dis- 
tressed me  more  than  any  other— the  fact  that  the 
masses  of  the  European  peoples  are  alienated  from 


Jesus  Christ  and  Social  Distress.       2i 

the  Gospel,  and  that  the  men  on  the  Continent  do 
not  go  to  any  place  of  worship.  When  I  have  con- 
templated the  extraordinary  career  of  such  men 
as  Garibaldi,  who  excited  boundless  enthusiasm 
among  the  masses  of  the  people  wherever  he  went. 
I  have  said  to  myself :  How  is  it  that  this  bound- 
less enthusiasm  is  directed  towards  Garibaldi  and 
not  towards  Jesus  Christ  ?  I  hold  that  everything 
that  was  true  and  helpful  in  the  teaching  of  Gari- 
baldi may  be  found  in  the  teaching  of  Jesus 
Christ ;  and  that  all  his  sympathy  with  the  masses 
of  the  people  and  his  desire  to  promote  the  pro- 
gress of  the  human  race  are  to  be  found  in  the 
teaching  of  the  Prophet  of  Galilee. 

I  have  long  been  persuaded  that  the  reason  why 
the  masses  of  the  people  have  to  so  great  an  ex- 
tent failed  to  realize  that  their  best  friend  is  Jesus 
Christ,  is  the  fact  that  we  ministers  of  religion  have 
taken  the  very  course  which  my  excellent  corres- 
pondent urged  upon  me  last  Monday.  We  have 
dealt  too  exclusively  with  the  individual  aspect  of 
the  Christian  faith.  We  have  constantly  acted  as 
if  Christianity  had  nothing  to  do  with  business, 
with  pleasure,  and  with  politics  ;  as  if  it  were 
simply  a  question  of  private  life  and  of  prayer- 
meetings.  It  is  because  the  spirit  of  Christ  has 
not  been  introduced  into  public  life  that  Europe 
is  in  a  perilous    condition  to-day.      I  have  often 


J 


22  Social  Christianity. 

thought  how  distressing  it  was  that  so  great  and 
illustrious  a  man,  and  so  devout  a  believer  in  God, 
as  Mazzini  should  have  deliberately  rejected  the 
Christian  religion  on  this  ground :  That  he  be- 
lieved Christianity  taught  men  to  be  selfish  ;  that 
it  taught  them  to  be  so  absorbed  in  their  own 
individual  salvation,  and  to  be  so  wrapped  up  in 
thoughts  of  the  future  that  they  neglected  their 
duty  on  earth.  Now,  I  absolutely  deny  that  this 
is  the  case.  I  protest  that  it  is  contradicted  by 
history.  I  contend  that  everything  that  is  best  in 
Mazzini  himself  is  due  to  Christ.  We  have  been 
so  accustomed  to  breathe  a  Christian  atmosphere 
that  very  few  of  us  have  any  conception  of  the 
intolerable  condition  of  the  human  race  when  Jesus 
Christ  came.  But  so  gifted  a  man  as  Mazzini 
would  never  have  made  such  a  terrible  mistake 
unless  we  Christians  had  neglected  to  declare  that 
the  teaching  of  Christ  was  applicable  to  every 
phase  of  life. 

I  recently  received  an  excellent  letter  from  a 
member  of  the  Society  of  Friends,  and  you  will 
not  be  surprised  to  hear  that  he  wishes  me  to  speak 
on  the  subject  of  war.  Most  assuredly  I  shall  on 
no  distant  occasion.  I  was  very  much  struck  by 
one  remark  in  that  letter.  This  good  man  said  he 
thought  it  was  high  time  that  Christianity  should 
become  "  an  applied  science."     My  wish  is  to  apply 


Jesus  Christ  and  Social  Distress.       23 

Christianity  to  every  aspect  of  life.  Christianity 
is  not  something  that  has  to  do  with  a  mere  frag- 
ment of  our  existence.  It  has  to  do  with  us  as 
men  of  business  and  as  citizens  quite  as  much  as 
it  has  to  do  with  us  in  our  private  life ;  and  there 
are  endless  ways  in  which  we  can  preach  the  Gos- 
pel in  addition  to  holding  prayer-meetings  and 
delivering  what  may  be  called  sermons.  In  The 
Methodist  Times  this  week  there  is  published  a 
remarkable  communication  with  respect  to  some 
heroic  work  that  my  truly  Christian  friend,  Mr. 
Frederick  N.  Charrington,  has  been  doing  in  the 
East  End  of  London.  He  began  his  career  as  a 
thorough-going  Christian  in  a  very  remarkable 
way.  When  he  was  converted  to  God  he  was  a 
brewer.  He  started  a  Bible-class,  and  one  day  it 
occurred  to  him  that  it  was  very  inconsistent  that 
he  should  try  to  reclaim  with  a  Bible-class  on 
Sunday  the  men  who  were  made  drunk  with  his 
beer  on  Saturday.  Thereupon,  without  hesitation, 
that  brave  young  man,  for  the  sake  of  Christ  and 
the  human  race,  sacrificed  £80,000. 

Now,  it  seems  to  me  that  this  was  a  far  finer 
exhibition  of  true  Christianity  than  the  exhibition 
that  took  place  in  London  some  time  ago,  when 
citizens  of  this  so-called  Christian  city  were  rush- 
ing furiously  through  the  streets  of  London,  terribly 
afraid  that  they  would  be  too  late  to  secure  shares 


Social  Christianity. 


in  Allsopp's  Brewery.  Having  surrendered  that 
.£80,000,  Mr.  Charrington  began  his  heroic  work  in 
the  Mile  End  Road.  Within  the  last  few  weeks 
he  has  deemed  it  to  be  part  of  his  duty  as  a  Chris- 
tian man  to  put  the  Criminal  Law  Amendment 
Act  in  force,  and  he  has  closed  forty  of  the  most 
infamous  houses  in  that  part  of  London.  Now,  I 
say  that  by  closing  all  these  houses  Mr.  Charrington 
has  done  much  more  good  than  if  he  had  merely 
held  numerous  prayer-meetings.  While  referring 
to  this  Act,  let  me  remind  you  that  it  is  a  mighty 
weapon  which  we  owe  to  those  fearless  Christians, 
Mr.  W.  T.  Stead  and  Rev.  Benjamin  Waugh,  and 
it  is  a  weapon  which  any  man  may  take  into  his 
own  hand,  and  use  with  decisive  effect.  Let  every- 
body know  that  under  this  Act  the  landlord,  the 
owner,  the  manager,  and  the  keeper  of  bad  houses 
are  all  liable  to  imprisonment ;  and  wherever  you 
have  a  few  brave  Christians  prepared  to  put  the 
new  law  in  force  the  vestibules  of  hell  may  be 
closed. 

Mr.  Charrington  told  my  representative  that  the 
Vestry  of  Mile  End  had  refused  to  enforce  the  law. 
If  the  excellent  Christian  who  wrote  to  me  is 
present,  I  beg  his  special  attention  to  that  fact. 
Here  is  an  illustration  of  the  importance  of  putting 
Christian  men  in  the  Vestry.  There  are  a  num- 
ber of  publicans  in  that  Vestry;  and,  as  everybody 


Jesus  Christ  and  Social  Distress. 


-d 


knows,  the  unhappy  harlots  arc  the  best  customers 
of  the  publicans.     There  have  been,  in  all  parts  of 
the  country,  instances  where  infamous  houses  have 
actually  belonged  to  town  councillors  and  vestry- 
men.   Is  it  not  time,  I  ask,  that  a  Christian  minister 
should  say  it  is  part  of  our  duty  as  citizens  to  see 
that  in  all  our  Vestries  and  other  local  assemblies 
men  are  elected  who  do  not  fear  the  face  of  man, 
and  who   are   ready  to  do  their  duty  loyally  to 
their  country  and   to   their  God  ?      Let    me   give 
another  illustration  of  the  necessity  of  including 
the  Vestry  in    our   conception  of  Christianity  as 
an  applied  science.     That  zealous  philanthropist, 
Mr.   Arnold  White,    has    interested  himself    very 
much  in  the  condition  of  the  London  poor.     He 
made  some  investigations  a  few  months  ago  with 
respect  to  the  sugar,  the  tea,  and  the  butter  with 
which  the  East  End  poor  are  supplied,  often  at  a 
very  much  greater  cost  than  we  pay  for  ours  in  the 
West  End.     The  result  of  his  investigations  was 
that  in  some  instances  the  sugar  was  not  sugar, 
the  tea  was  not  tea,  and  the  butter  was  not  butter. 
I  bring  no  sweeping  charges  against  small  trades- 
men as  a  class,  but  I  do  say  that  the  Adulteration 
Acts  are  not  enforced.     Mr.  White  states  in  print 
that  in  some  cases  the  reason  is  that  the  vestry- 
men are  themselves  interested  in  preventing  those 
Acts  from  being  enforced. 


2b  Social  Christianity. 

The  Royal  Commission  which  sat  a  short  time 
ago,  with  the  Prince  of  Wales  as  its  President,  to 
consider  the  condition  of  the  poor,  reporting  with 
respect  to  unsanitary  houses,  stated  that  we 
actually  had  in  existence  to-day,  laws  under  which 
every  miserable  tenement  in  London  might  be 
closed.  Why  are  they  not  closed  ?  Because  the 
Christians  have  not  looked  after  the  Vestries : 
and  the  time  has  come,  and  more  than  come, 
when  we  must  pray  God  to  give  us  grace  to  dis- 
charge our  duty  in  public  as  well  as  to  say  our 
prayers  in  private.  If  we  needed  any  proof  that 
Christians  should  give  their  attention  to  these 
duties  as  well  as  to  prayer-meetings  and  to  holiness 
meetings,  we  might  find  it  in  the  career  of  one  of 
the  most  illustrious  evangelical  Christians  that 
ever  adorned  the  pages  of  Christian  history — the 
late  much  lamented  Lord  Shaftesbury.  Only  the 
other  day  I  came  across  a  very  remarkable  sen- 
tence in  the  first  speech  he  ever  delivered  in 
proposing  his  first  Factory  Act  in  1833.  If  there 
ever  was  a  devoted,  evangelical  Christian  who 
cared  for  the  souls  of  men,  Lord  Shaftesbury  did. 
The  gentleman  who  wrote  me,  I  may  here  mention, 
talked  throughout  his  letter  about  "  souls,"  "  deal- 
ing with  souls,"  "  saving  souls,"  and  so  on.  I 
might  have  settled  the  matter  by  saying  that  I  had 
no  disembodied  "  souls  "  in  my  congregation,  but 


Jesus  Christ  and  Social  Distress.      1) 

that  I  had  souls  incarnate,  souls  attached  to  bodies, 
and  that  we  must  deal  with  man  as  a  complex 
being.  If  I  had  a  congregation  of  disembodied 
souls  who  had  no  physical  wants  and  no  connec- 
tion with  London,  I  might  take  a  very  different 
course.  But  there  is  too  much  truth  in  the  saying 
I  have  often  quoted  of  late  that  "some  very 
earnest  Christians  are  so  diligently  engaged  in 
saving  souls  that  they  have  no  time  to  save  men 
and  women." 

But  to  return  to  Lord  Shaftesbury.  On  that 
memorable  occasion  he  said :  "  The  Ten  Hours 
Bill  is  a  great  religious  question,  for  it  involves  the 
means  of  thousands  and  tens  of  thousands  being 
brought  up  in  the  faith  and  fear  of  the  God  who 
created  them.  I  have  read  of  those  who  sacrificed 
their  children  to  Moloch,  but  they  were  merciful 
people  compared  \  with  the  Englishmen  of  the 
nineteenth  century.  So  long  as  these  facts  were 
not  known  the  guilt  attached  to  the  proprietors  ; 
but  if  this  terrible  system  is  permitted  to  continue 
any  longer,  the  guilt  will  descend  on  the  whole 
nation."  So  said  Lord  Shaftesbury,  and  I  echo 
his  words.  Now  that  the  social  misery  of  the 
people  has  been  once  more  brought  home  to  us 
all  by  the  invaluable  service  of  the  public  press, 
we  are  all  in  our  degree  responsible  for  it.  Who 
can  estimate  the  blessings  that  have  followed  the 


28  Social  Christianity. 


Factory  Acts?  A  short  time  ago  I  went  down 
to  the  Pottery  district,  and  was  told  of  the 
unspeakably  degraded  condition  in  which  men, 
women,  and  children  lived  before  the  law  of 
England  protected  the  weak  against  the  greedy 
and  the  strong :  and  I  say  that  when  Lord 
Shaftesbury,  as  a  devout  believer  in  the  Lord 
Jesus  Christ,  persuaded  this  country — amid  the 
opposition  of  John  Bright  and  a  great  many 
sincere  friends  of  the  people  who  did  not  under- 
stand the  bearings  of  the  question — to  decide  that 
all  over  England  the  weak  and  defenceless  should 
be  protected  by  these  Acts,  he  did  more  to  estab- 
lish the  kingdom  of  Jesus  Christ  than  if  he  had 
merely  spent  his  time  in  preaching  thousands  of 
what  my  critic  would  call  Gospel  sermons. 

I  should  like  to  know,  indeed,  what  is  the  "good 
news  "  of  the  Gospel  ?  Is  it  selfish  individualism  ? 
I  emphatically  deny  it.  This  afternoon  we  had 
occasion  to  refer  to  the  song  with  which  the 
angels  from  heaven  saluted  the  birth  of  Christ. 
They  sang  of  "  Peace  on  earth,  goodwill  among 
men."  They  evidently  thought  Christ  had  come 
into  this  world  to  reconcile  Labour  and  Capital  ; 
and  to  induce  foolish  and  selfish  nations  to  lay  aside 
their  weapons  of  violence  and  to  dwell  together  in 
peace  and  brotherly  love.  If  my  excellent  friend 
who  wrote  to  me  on  Monday  had  been  with  the 


Jesus  Christ  and  Social  Distress.      29 

shepherds  on  that  occasion  he  would  doubtless 
have  rebuked  the  angels  for  referring  to  "  Peace  on 
earth "  instead  of  saying  something  about  souls. 
I  need  scarcely  tell  you  that  the  Apostles,  how- 
ever, were  of  the  same  mind  as  the  angels.  St. 
James  says  that  an  essential  part  of  pure  religion 
is  to  visit  the  fatherless  and  widows  ;  that  is,  to 
show  kindness  and  mercy  to  those  who  need  it. 
St.  Peter  tells  us  that  an  essential  part  of  true 
religion  is  to  honour  all  men.  St.  Paul  says  that 
the  very  crown  and  summit  of  a  good  life  is  to 
love  your  neighbour.  St.  John  states  emphatically 
that  he  who  does  not  love  his  brother  cannot  love 
God.  He  says,  further,  that  the  man  who  does 
not  positively  love  his  brother  hates  him. 

And  when  we  turn  to  our  blessed  Lord  and 
Master  Himself,  you  know  how  He  denned 
the  good  Samaritan,  and  the  "  brother "  and  the 
"neighbour."  The  good  Samaritan  said  nothing 
at  first  to  the  disabled  Jew  about  his  soul.  He 
put  him  on  his  ass,  attended  to  his  wounds,  and 
paid  his  hotel  bill.  What  has  the  excellent  gentle- 
man who  wrote  to  me  to  say  to  that  ?  The 
Samaritan's  first  act  was  to  establish  friendly 
relations,  to  prove  that  he  was  the  Jew's  true 
brother,  and  after  that  the  Jew  would  be  willing 
to  hear  him  on  the  subject  of  spiritual  religion. 

We  come,  lastly,  to  the  example  which  is  pre- 


Social  Christianity. 


sented  to  us  in  the  text.  If  you  turn  to  the 
chapter  from  which  the  Lesson  was  taken,  you 
find  this  remarkable  passage:  "Jesus  was  moved 
with  compassion  towards  them,  and  healed  their 
sick."  As  I  reminded  you  last  Sunday,  on  nearly 
every  occasion  on  which  Christ  saw  a  multitude 
He  had  compassion  on  them.  My  excellent 
friend  might  have  said  :  "Lord,  you  are  losing  a 
great  opportunity.  What  is  the  body  in  comparison 
with  the  soul  ?  What  is  the  use  of  healing  their 
bodies  ? "  But  the  first  thing  Christ  did  was  to 
heal  their  bodies  ;  then  He  preached  to  them  ;  then, 
after  He  had  preached,  and  when  the  evening  was 
come,  the  disciples  came  to  Him,  and  said  :  "  This 
is  a  desert  place,  and  the  time  is  now  past  ;  send 
the  multitude  away,  that  they  may  go  into  the 
villages  and  buy  themselves  victuals."  But  Jesus 
said:  "They  have  no  need  to  go  away  ;  give  ye 
them  to  eat." 

And  when  we  are  told  that  there  are  thousands 
and  tens  of  thousands  of  starving  men  in  this  coun- 
try, are  not  we  too  ready  to  say:  "Send  them  away. 
Let  them  go  to  New  Zealand  or  Manitoba.  Let 
them  emigrate  "  ?  I  do  not  deny  that  for  many 
emigration  is  extremely  desirable,  but  not  for  all. 
We  must  not  go  to  sleep  on  a  pillow  of  that  sort, 
in  utter  indifference  to  the  social  condition  of  the 
masses  of  our  fellow-countrymen.     We  must  not 


Testis  Christ  and  Social  Distress. 


*I 


suppose  that  when  we  have  said  the  country  is 
overcrowded  we  can  sit  down  in  comfortable 
despair,  and  flatter  ourselves  that  we  have  dis- 
charged our  duty.  Are  you  quite  sure  that  the 
country  is  overcrowded?  Perhaps  it  has  never 
occurred  to  you  that  for  every  mouth  God  has 
created  two  hands.  Of  one  thing  I  am  profoundly 
convinced,  it  will  be  impossible  for  us  to  evangelize 
the  starving  poor  so  long  as  they  continue  in  a 
starving  condition.  I  have  had  almost  as  much 
experience  of  evangelistic  work  as  any  man  in  this 
country,  and  I  have  never  been  able  to  bring  any 
one  who  was  actually  starving  to  Christ. 

Let  us  turn  to  the  nineteenth  chapter  of  the 
Book  of  Kings,  where  we  find  an  apt  illustration 
in  the  case  of  Elijah  when  he  was  flying  from 
Jezebel.  Elijah  lay  down  in  a  surly  and 
cowardly  mood  under  a  juniper  tree,  and  as  he 
slept,  an  angel  touched  him,  and  said:  "Arise 
and  eat."  If  the  angel  had  been  like  our  friend 
who  wrote  to  me  on  Monday,  he  would  have  be- 
gun to  chide  him,  and  to  say :  "  Now,  Elijah,  it 
is  very  disgraceful  to  act  in  that  way,  and  to  be 
cast  down,  after  you  have  won  a  glorious  victory 
in  the  name  of  the  Lord  Jehovah.  Repent  of  your 
sins."  That  would  have  been  all  true.  But  what 
the  angel  did  say  was:  "Arise  and  eat."  It  was 
useless  to  talk   to  a  starving   man  in  the  physical 


32  Social  Christianity. 

condition  in  which  Elijah  was  ;  and  so  we  read  that 
when  he  looked  up  "  there  was  a  cake  baken  on 
the  coals,  and  a  cruse  of  water  at  his  head,  and  he 
did  eat  and  drink  and  laid  him  down  again."  The 
angel  of  the  Lord  awoke  him  a  second  time.  What 
did  he  say  ?  Did  he  say  :  "  You  ungrateful  wretch ! 
I  came  and  provided  you  with  all  your  needs  here 
in  this  wilderness.  You  arc  a  disgrace  to  your 
profession  as  a  prophet "  ?  No ;  for  the  second 
time  the  angel  said  :  "Arise  and  eat"  ;  and  he  did 
so.  Even  Elijah  was  unfit  to  understand  and  ap- 
preciate the  will  of  God  until  he  had  eaten  two 
hearty  meals.  Now,  if  that  was  true  of  the  great 
prophet  of  God,  is  it  not  even  more  true  of  the 
common-place  Londoner,  who  cannot  be  expected 
to  have  such  a  conception  of  his  duty  as  Elijah 
had  ?  Is  it  not  quite  evident  that  we  must  deal 
with  every  aspect  of  human  nature  in  order  to 
carry  out  the  teaching  of  Jesus  Christ  ? 

In  conclusion,  let  me  ask  your  attention  to  an 
admirable  suggestion.  A  benevolent  gentleman,  who 
was  here  last  Sunday,  and  who  is  much  interested, 
as  I  hope  we  all  are,  in  the  social  condition  of  our 
fellow-citizens,  called  upon  me  during  the  week, 
and  made  the  following  suggestion  :  Would  it  not 
be  a  blessed  thing  if  we  could  persuade  some  of 
the  comfortable  and  well-to-do  classes  of  the  West 
End  to  interest  themselves  personally  and  directly 


Jesus  Christ  and  Social  Distress.       33 

in  some  of  the  honest,  sober,  and  industrious 
families  in  the  East  End  who  are  poverty-stricken 
and  in  need  of  assistance  ?  Would  it  not  be 
desirable  to  ask  Christian  men  and  women,  heads 
of  houses  and  their  families,  to  volunteer  to 
"patronize"  in  the  ancient  sense  of  that  word 
involving  no  humiliation  on  either  side,  a  particular 
family  ;  instead  of  subscribing  to  some  charitable 
fund  which  others  distribute?  Money  could  be 
given  where  money  was  needed,  the  girls  could  be 
assisted  into  service,  and  the  boys  into  business. 
If  Christian  households  are  interested  in  particular 
families  their  sympathies  will  be  more  drawn  forth  ; 
different  classes  will  be  brought  more  together  ; 
and  the  general  well-being  will  be  more  promoted 
than  by  the  vague  distribution  of  gifts. 

This  gentleman  has  sent  me  three  specimen 
families,  and  if  there  are  three  gentlemen  here 
who  would  be  prepared  to  take  up  these  cases  we 
could  supplement  them  by  any  number.  The  first 
is  that  of  a  shipwright,  who  has  worked  only  four 
weeks  since  last  Christmas.  The  family  at  home 
consists  of  a  boy  of  fourteen  and  a  girl  of  ten. 
Two  wretched  small  rooms  are  occupied.  The 
rent  is  4s.  per  week  ;  37.5-.  6d.  rent  is  due.  The 
wife  is  consumptive  and  very  ill.  The  mother  and 
children  when  visited  had  not  had  anything  to  eat 
for  some  time  but  dry  bread.     The  second  case  is 

3 


34  Social  Christianity. 

that  of  a  coachbuilder  doing  odd  jobs.  He  has 
a  decent-looking  wife  and  five  children,  the  eldest 
nine  years  and  the  youngest  fourteen  days.  The 
husband  is  a  sober  man,  and  willing  to  work.  The 
third  case  is  that  of  a  poor  widow,  whose  husband 
died  two  years  ago  of  consumption.  He  had  not 
earned  anything  for  two  years  before  his  death. 
There  are  three  girls  and  two  boys.  The  eldest 
girl  is  too  ill  to  do  anything.  One  of  the  younger 
girls  is  in  consumption,  and  is  expected  to  follow 
her  father  soon.  She  ought  to  be  in  a  Home. 
Four  rooms  are  occupied,  the  rent  of  which  is 
js.  6d.  a  week.  The  family  are  in  great  distress 
The  rooms  are  very  clean.  If  we  could  get  two 
or  three  thousand  families  to  interest  themselves 
in  such  cases  as  these,  we  should  be  conferring 
untold  blessings  on  the  human  race  ;  and  at  the 
same  time  illustrating  one  of  the  most  splendid 
methods  of  "  preaching  the  Gospel." 


III. 

THE  SUPREMACY  OF  THE  LA  W  OF  CHRIST 


Preached  in  St.  James's  Hall,  Sunday  Afternoon, 
Nov.  13M,  1887. 


III. 

THE  SUPREMACY  OF  THE  LA  W  OF  CHRIST. 
"  We  must  obey  God  rather  than  men." — Acts  v.  29. 

AS  was  announced  last  Sunday,  I  propose  to 
■  begin  to-day  a  study  of  Greek  and  Roman 
society  in  the  time  of  our  Lord.  Although  at  first 
it  might  not  seem  to  some  earnest  Christians  very 
profitable  to  go  back  2,000  years  and  try  by  the 
use  of  that  divine  gift — the  imagination — to  re- 
produce the  social  condition  of  Europe  when  our 
Lord  came,  yet  it  really  is  of  the  greatest  impor- 
tance, and  that  for  two  reasons.  In  the  first  place, 
if  we  can  form  any  idea  whatever  of  the  condition 
of  Europe  when  our  Lord  was  born,  we  shall  be 
able  to  realize  what  He  has  already  done  for  human 
society.  We  shall  realize  that  He  has  not  only 
saved  the  souls  of  millions  of  individual  men,  but 
also  made  the  condition  of  the  human  race  im- 
measurably better  and  happier  than  it  was  2,000 
years  ago.  Perhaps  there  never  was  a  period  in 
human  history  when  it  was  more  necessary  to  insist 
upon  what  Christ  has  done  for  society  than  it  is 
to-day  ;    because  what  Christ  has  done  has  been 

37 


o 


8  Social  Christianity, 


so  well  done,  and  so  long  done,  that  many  of  us 
have  no  idea  that  the  main  blessings  of  human 
life  in  Europe  are  directly  due  to  Jesus  Christ. 
There  are,  indeed,  some  atheists  who  on  the  plat- 
form and  in  current  literature  vainly  contend  that 
those  social  circumstances  which  make  Europe 
so  much  better  than  Asia  and  Africa  are  due  to 
heathen  civilization,  whereas  they  are  entirely  due 
to  the  influence  of  Jesus  Christ.  Our  blessed 
Redeemer  ought  to  have  credit  for  all  He  has  done 
on  earth. 

In  the  second  place,  there  is  a  fearful  perver- 
sion of  Christianity  abroad,  which  has  been  illus- 
trated to  my  knowledge  during  the  last  week. 
One  journalist  said  a  few  days  ago  to  another 
journalist,  a  friend  of  mine,  that  we  Christians  were 
Christians  simply  and  mainly  because  we  wanted 
to  escape  from  hell,  and  because  we  believe  that  if 
we  led  a  Christian  life  we  should  get  into  heaven. 
I  dare  say  we  have  sometimes  hastily  used  expres- 
sions that  may  have  given  rise  to  this  fearful 
perversion  :  but  I  am  thankful  to  know  that  my 
journalistic  friend  replied  at  once  that  even  if  the 
service  of  Christ  were  for  this  life  only  we  im- 
measurably preferred  to  be  Christians ;  that  apart 
altogether  from  the  future,  the  happiest  people  in 
London  to-day  were  the  Christian  people.  More- 
over, my  friend  utterly  and  indignantly  repudiated 


The  Supremacy  of  the  Law  of  Christ,  39 

as  he  ought,  the  assertion  that  Christianity  was 
a  selfish  thing. 

We  believe  Christianity  is  for  this  world  as  well 
as  for  the  world  to  come.  We  hold  that  all 
the  great  social  blessings  which  men  naturally 
desire  are  to  be  obtained  from  Christ,  and  from 
nobody  else.  We  maintain  that  every  immense 
improvement  in  the  social  condition  of  the  Euro- 
pean peoples  is  due  to  Jesus  Christ,  and  that 
therefore  the  boundless  enthusiasm  with  which  the 
masses  of  the  people  have  regarded  such  men  as 
Garibaldi  or  Mazzini  ought  to  be  directed  to  the 
Christ ;  for  everything  that  was  true,  and  good,  and 
kind,  and  helpful  in  their  teaching  and  in  their 
influence  they  derived  from  Him.  Nothing  of  the 
sort  existed  before  Christ  came.  Those  who  are 
in  the  habit  of  attending  these  services  regularly 
are  well  aware  that  my  colleague  and  I  arc  per- 
petually protesting  against  the  selfish  notions  that 
Christianity  is  merely  some  device  by  which  God  is 
going  to  rescue  a  handful  of  us,  and  that  our  main 
business  is  to  save  our  own  souls.  As  Christians 
we  believe  that  we  must  seek  first  the  kingdom 
of  God  and  His  righteousness ;  and  we  have  to 
seek  that  down  here  in  the  London  fogs,  not  in 
Paradise. 

When  you  open  the  pages  of  history  there  is  no 
difficulty  in  discovering  that  the  social  condition  of 


40  Social  Christianity. 

all  peoples  has  already  been  immeasurably  bene- 
fited by  the  influence  of  Christ  and  by  the  leaven 
of  Christianity,  and  that  there  is  the  brightest 
promise  for  the  future.  If  Jesus  Christ  has  al- 
ready been  able  to  do  so  much,  He  will  assuredly 
be  able  to  accomplish  what  yet  remains  to  be 
done.  If  He  has  absolutely  destroyed  some  of 
the  greatest  social  scourges  of  the  race  of  Adam, 
then  we  may  confidently  look  forward  to  the  time 
when,  by  the  power  of  His  Holy  Spirit,  drunken- 
ness, lust,  despotism,  pauperism,  and  war  will  also 
be  utterly  destroyed,  and  when  we  shall  all  dwell 
together  in  peace  and  in  brotherly  love.  That  is 
one  important  reason  why  I  earnestly  desire  that 
for  a  few  Sundays  you  should  come  here  and  con- 
sider with  me  the  state  of  the  human  race  when 
Christ  was  born. 

There  is  another  reason  which  weighs  very  much 
with  me.  When  we  come  together,  and  with  the 
assistance  of  intelligent  historians  and  other  author- 
ities find  what  opinions  were  current  in  Athens  and 
in  Rome  at  the  birth  of  Christ,  we  shall  discover 
the  true  source  and  origin  of  some  of  the  opinions 
which  we  read  in  our  daily  newspapers  and  hear  on 
our  public  platforms ;  which  are  uttered  in  both 
Houses  of  Parliament;  and  which  many  a  Christian, 
in  his  simplicity,  imagines  are  of  Christian  origin  : 
but  which  are  really  rank  heathenism. 


The  Supremacy  of  the  Law  of  Christ.  41 

Let  us,  then,  begin  our  study  at  once.  We  turn 
first  of  all  to  the  Greek.  It  is  of  the  greatest  im- 
portance that  we  should  know  what  manner  of 
man  the  Greek  was,  because  he  still  has  tremendous 
influence.  His  opinions  are  impressed  in  our  great 
public  schools  and  in  our  universities  upon  the 
young  gentlemen  of  England  ;  and  now  also  upon 
an  ever-increasing  number  of  the  most  gifted  of 
the  young  women  of  England.  It  is  a  fact — 
and  the  more  I  think  of  it  the  more  lamentable  I 
feel  it  to  be — that  some  of  the  most  gifted  sons 
and  daughters  of  England  are  much  better  ac- 
quainted with  the  opinions  and  sentiments  and 
principles  of  the  Greek  thinkers  than  with  the 
teaching  of  the  Bible.  Now,  many  of  these  young 
men  and  women,  after  going  to  some  of  our  uni- 
versities, where  they  are  thoroughly  saturated  with 
Greek  thought,  become  the  headmasters  and  head- 
mistresses of  our  great  educational  establishments. 
Others  of  them  begin  to  write  for  the  London  news- 
papers. Some  of  these  young  men  go  into  Parlia- 
ment, and  they  reproduce  in  journalistic  literature 
and  in  Parliament  the  opinions  and  sentiments 
which  they  learned,  not  from  Moses,  or  Isaiah,  01 
Jesus  Christ,  or  Paul ;  but  from  Plato  and  Aristotle. 

Our  opinions  with  respect  to  Society  and  Politics 
are  so  very  mixed,  are  such  a  strange  amalgam  of 
Christianity  and  heathenism,  that  many  sentiments 


42  Social  Christianity. 

which  come  to  us  from  heathen  sources  are  ac- 
cepted as  being  Christian,  whereas  if  we  trace  them 
back  to  their  true  source  they  are  proved  to  be 
absolutely  anti- Christian.  Who  taught  them,  and 
what  other  things  their  authors  taught,  we  shall  be 
able  to  see  in  the  light  of  ancient  history.  Then 
we  shall  appraise  them  at  their  right  value. 

Let  us  then  look  at  the  Greek.  The  Greek  was 
essentially  a  citizen,  not  a  man.  That  is  to  say,  his 
manhood  was  lost  in  his  citizenship.  The  illus- 
trious Dollinger,  who  by  universal  consent  is  the 
greatest  living  historical  authority,  describes  the 
Greek  thus :  "  The  sum  of  his  duty  was  to  merge 
his  personality  in  the  State,  and  to  have  no  will  of 
his  own  distinct  from  that  of  the  State."  In  other 
words,  the  State  was  practically  the  God  of  the 
Greek.  His  idea  of  worshipping  the  gods  was 
very  different  from  yours  and  mine.  He  simply 
thought  that  certain  sacrifices  were  due  to  the 
gods,  and  when  he  had  offered  these  sacrifices  he 
had  no  more  to  do  with  the  gods  than  you  have 
with  the  tax-collector  when  you  have  settled  with 
him. 

We  can  well  understand  \vhy  the  Greeks  treated 
their  gods  with  a  great  deal  of  contempt.  Their 
gods  were  by  universal  consent  unmitigated 
scoundrels.  Nearly  all  of  them  were  drunkards, 
adulterers,  thieves,    and   liars.     But  thinking  that 


The  Supremacy  of  the  Law  of  Christ.  43 

these  gods  might  worry  or  injure  him,  the  Greek 
paid  them  what  was  necessary.  But  the  real  God 
of  the  Greek  was  his  State  or  his  City,  and  he  sur- 
rendered himself  to  his  State  as  absolutely  as  we 
surrender  ourselves  to  Jesus  Christ.  At  our  Friday 
night  meetings  we  always  say  our  great  business  is 
to  make  an  absolute  self-surrender  to  Jesus  Christ, 
to  cry,  "Thy  will  be  done  "  ;  to  give  ourselves  up 
freely  to  Christ ;  to  be  altogether  at  His  disposal  ; 
to  allow  Him  to  direct  our  thoughts  and  our 
actions.  Now,  the  Greek  was  brought  up  to 
surrender  himself  as  absolutely  to  his  State  or 
to  his  City  as  you  and  I  are  urged  to  surrender 
ourselves  to  our  God  in  Christ  ;  so  that  it 
positively  came  to  pass  that  his  only  idea  of  the 
word  "  freedom,"  was  the  enjoyment  of  the  fran- 
chise of  a  Greek  State  !  You  sometimes  hear 
atheists  speak  of  the  "  freedom  "  of  Athens — 
Athens,  where  three-fourths  of  the  citizens  were 
slaves  !  The  word  "  freedom,"  in  the  sense  in 
which  you  use  it,  is  purely  Christian. 

The  human  race  never  knew  what  Freedom  was 
until  Christ  came.  The  very  meaning  of  the  word 
Freedom,  in  the  sense  in  which  we  use  that  great 
word,  is  a  meaning  of  which  you  find  no  trace  in 
Greek  history.  Distinguished  men  sometimes  re- 
ceive the  "  freedom  "  of  the  City  of  London,  and 
of  other    cities.      Now,   the  word   freedom   meant 


44  Social  Christianity. 

nothing  more  than  that  to  the  Greek.  He  had  the 
right  to  be  a  citizen  and  enjoy  all  the  electoral  and 
other  privileges  of  citizenship.  That  was  the  only 
sort  of  freedom  of  which  the  Greek  had  any  idea. 
So  you  can  imagine  how  admirably  qualified  gentle- 
men saturated  with  Greek  ideas,  are  to  teach  you 
and  me  what  freedom  is !  The  Greek  had  no  sacred 
personal  rights  against  the  State.  It  was  the  uni- 
versal belief  of  the  Greeks  that  everything  was 
right,  that  everything  was  just,  that  benefited  the 
State.  The  Might  of  the  State  was  Right :  what- 
ever the  State  did  was  Right. 

The  Greek  knew  of  no  higher  law  than  the  law 
of  the  land  ;  and  whatever  the  authorities  decreed, 
that,  he  believed,  must  be  done.  From  that  there 
was  no  appeal  ;  and  the  highest  duty  of  the  Greek 
was  to  obey  the  authorities  in  whatever  they  told 
him  to  do.  Hence  the  State  in  Greece  interfered 
in  all  sorts  of  ways  with  the  private  life  of  the 
citizens;  not  for  the  purpose  of  preventing  a  citizen 
from  injuring  other  citizens,  which,  we  all  admit, 
would  be  a  very  legitimate  interference,  even  if  it 
went  to  the  extent  of  shutting  up  the  public-houses 
or  destroying  any  trade  that  injured  the  public. 
If  the  Greek  Government  interfered  with  the  pri- 
vate affairs  of  the  individual  citizen  it  was  not  on 
any  such  grounds,  but  because  the  Greek  authori- 
ties absolutely    denied,    and    always    denied,    that 


The  Supremacy  of  the  Law  of  Christ.  45 

individual  citizens  had  any  rights  whatever.  The 
citizen  was  not  his  own  ;  he  belonged  body  and 
soul  to  the  State.  The  result  was  that  in  the 
Greek  cities  if  a  man  wanted  to  marry  he  had  to 
ask  whom  he  should  marry,  and  under  what  cir- 
cumstances he  should  marry.  To  such  an  extent 
was  this  carried  out,  so  completely  were  all  the 
Greek  citizens  mere  creatures  of  the  State,  that 
they  had  no  jurisprudence,  no  science  of  law,  be- 
cause there  can  be  no  science  in  anything  which 
has  no  fixed  rules  or  principles.  The  only  freedom 
which  any  Greek  ever  enjoyed  was  the  freedom  of 
giving  his  vote  in  an  absolutely  unmitigated  des- 
potism. Therefore,  as  I  have  already  said,  what- 
ever the  law  was,  whatever  the  authorities  did, 
was  Right. 

The  foreign  policy  of  every  Greek  State  was 
determined  by  the  most  unscrupulous  and  selfish 
interests  of  the  State.  No  man  had  any  rights 
whatever  against  the  State;  and  no  nation  had 
any  rights  against  the  State  unless  it  could  over- 
come the  State  by  brute  force.  Then  all  right 
would  be  on  its  side.  The  great  Greek  historian 
who  is  still  diligently  studied  by  the  young  gentle- 
men of  England,  said  that  man's  mission  is  to 
subjugate  his  fellow-man  by  preventing  his 
fellow-man  from  subjugating  him.  Have  not 
you    read   something    like    that    in    some    of    the 


46  Social  Christianity. 

London  newspapers  ?  Take  Pericles,  the  great 
statesman  of  Athens,  in  the  golden  age  of  the 
Athenian  "  republic,"  which  was  no  more  a  republic, 
in  the  modern  sense,  than  the  empire  of  Russia  is 
to-day.  A  republic,  indeed  !  with  one-fourth  of 
the  citizens  trampling  under  their  feet  the  remain- 
ing three-fourths  as  mere  slaves  !  I  deny  the  title. 
No  government  has  any  right  to  be  called  a  re- 
public under  those  circumstances.  I  claim  that 
all  republics  and  democracies  and  commonwealths 
and  constitutional  governments  are  due  to  the 
teaching  of  Jesus  Christ.  Nothing  like  personal 
freedom  or  political  freedom  ever  existed  in  Greece. 
But  I  was  about  to  say  that  the  great  statesman 
Pericles,  whom  in  many  respects  we  all  admire, 
promoted  a  hatred  of  other  nations.  I  have  read 
in  the  London  newspapers  similar  sentiments  re- 
specting France,  and  Russia,  and  Ireland,  and  it 
may  be  as  well  for  you  to  know  that  the  journalists 
and  politicians  who  propound  such  sentiments 
derive  their  inspiration  from  Athenian  statesmen, 
and  not  from  Jesus  Christ. 

It  was  commonly  said  by  the  Greek  writers  that 
it  was  a  law  of  nature  that  the  strong  should 
trample  on  the  weak.  Two  distinguished  repre- 
sentatives of  the  British  Government  have  just 
been  saying  the  same  thing  in  India,  and  pouring 
the  greatest  contempt  upon  the  Hindoos  because 


The  Supremacy  of  the  Law  of  Christ.  47 

they  do  not  happen  to  have  as  much  physical 
strength  as  the  Mahommedans.  It  is  of  the  ut- 
most importance  to  say  that,  although  these 
gentlemen  are  representatives  of  a  nominally 
Christian  country,  they  are  not  representatives  of 
the  teaching  of  Jesus  Christ.  My  blessed  Master 
must  not  be  held  responsible  for  their  Athenian 
sentiments.  So  utterly  heartless  were  the  Athen- 
ians that  they  positively  exterminated  entire 
populations  of  their  fellow-countrymen.  They 
sold  women  and  children  as  slaves,  not  in  mo- 
mentary rage,  but  with  cold-blooded  deliberation. 

We  come  now  to  the  Romans  for  a  minute. 
The  Roman  did  not  so  completely  submerge  the 
individual  in  the  State  as  the  Greek  did.  There 
was,  as  we  shall  discover,  a  very  important  Roman 
jurisprudence.  The  Roman  had  some  just  con- 
ceptions of  the  rights  of  property.  The  Roman, 
however,  like  the  Greek,  regarded  the  law  of  the 
State  as  the  supreme  rule  of  conduct ;  and  acknow- 
ledged no  higher  standard  of  right,  either  in  home 
or  in  foreign  policy,  than  the  aggrandizement  of  his 
own  country. 

Now  into  this  Greek  and  Roman  world,  satu- 
rated with  such  ideas  as  I  have  hastily  sketched, 
came  Jesus  of  Nazareth,  the  Son  of  God.  He 
founded  His  Church,  and  immediately  a  conflict 
began  between  His  first  disciples  and  the  author- 


48  Social  Christianity. 

ities.  I  have  to-day  read  one  chapter  where,  con- 
trary to  the  principles  of  the  State,  and  in  the 
teeth  of  the  authorities,  Peter,  by  insisting  upon 
preaching  in  the  open-air — and  his  preaching,  as 
we  learn,  was  attended  by  wonderful  results — came 
into  conflict  with  the  authorities,  who  were  of  the 
same  type  as  that  police  magistrate  who  recently 
said  that  the  Salvation  Army  was  a  nuisance.  Of 
course  I  fully  admit  that  no  preacher  should  be 
allowed,  by  open-air  preaching,  to  obstruct  the 
streets.  It  is,  however,  the  Constitutional  custom 
of  this  country  that  open-air  preaching  shall  be 
allowed,  and  if  such  a  custom  did  not  exist  it 
would  be  necessary  to  make  it.  It  is  the  most 
sacred  of  all  the  rights  of  the  poor  who  cannot 
attend  our  indoor  services.  To  them  we  must  go, 
and  to  them  we  will  go.  But  at  the  time  to  which 
I  refer  the  authorities  did  not  recognise  any  such 
right. 

It  really  is  of  great  importance  to  understand 
that,  from  a  technical  legal  point  of  view,  the  dis- 
ciples on  this  occasion  were  in  the  wrong.  The 
Roman  law  which  existed  in  Palestine  gave  them 
no  authority  whatever  to  preach  in  the  streets  of 
Jerusalem.  They  were  arrested,  and  put  in  prison. 
An  angel  let  them  out.  Again  they  went  and 
preached  in  the  open  air.  Once  more  they  were 
brought  before  the  magistrates.     Then  Peter  used 


The  Supremacy  of  the  Law  of  Christ.  49 

the  words  which  I  have  taken  as  my  text :  "  We 
must  obey  God  rather  than  men."  That  was  a 
revolution.  That  was  the  beginning  of  a  new  era. 
Peter  took  as  his  highest  standard  of  conduct,  not 
the  law  of  his  country,  but  the  law  of  God  as  finally 
revealed  to  him  in  Jesus  Christ.  If  the  law  of  his 
country  was  wrong  he  would  break  it,  and  go  to 
prison. 

For  Peter  and  for  all  Christians  the  law  of  Christ 
is  the  final,  supreme  law  of  man.  The  authority  of 
Christ  overrides  all  other  authority.  Our  highest 
duty  is  to  obey  Him,  for  He  is  the  voice  of  abso- 
lute Right.  I  have  no  time  to  pursue  the  subject 
any  further  to-day.  I  simply  bring  you  to  this 
point — that  such  sentiments  as  my  text  expresses 
were  never  uttered  in  Europe  till  Christ  came. 
And  as  this  fact  comes  home  to  us  we  shall  realize 
more  and  more  to  what  an  extent  Jesus  Christ 
has  already  superseded  the  selfish  thoughts  of 
man  ;  and  has  taught  that  which  it  is  the  supreme 
purpose  of  these  afternoon  Conferences  to  enforce 
— namely,  that  the  laws  and  policies  of  States 
must  be  subjected  to  the  teaching  of  Jesus  Christ 
quite  as  much  as  the  private  conduct  of  indivi- 
duals. 


IV. 


CHRIST  THE    GREATEST  OF  SOCIAL 
REFORMERS. 


Preached  in  St.  James's  Hall,  Sunday  Afternoon, 
November  zjth,  18S7. 


36 


IV. 

CHRIST  THE   GREATEST  OF  SOCIAL 
REFORMERS. 

"A  man's  life  consistrth  not  in  the  abundance  of  the  things  which 
he possesseth." — St.  Luke  xii.  15. 

THE  barest  justice  demands  that  Christ  should 
have  all  the  glory  which  we  now  associate 
with  the  word  "  freedom."  Every  ancient  Govern- 
ment, whatever  it  called  itself,  was  really  an  ab- 
solute despotism.  The  Greek  had  no  personal 
rights  whatever  against  the  State.  All  the  State 
did  was  "  right."  There  was  no  higher  law  than 
the  law  of  the  land,  and  the  law  of  the  land  was 
a  law  in  which  the  few  oppressed  the  many,  and 
in  which  the  rich  despised  the  poor.  If  that  is  no 
longer  the  case,  it  is  entirely  due  to  Jesus  Christ. 
The  fact  is  that  when  Christ  came,  in  the  world 
to  which  He  came,  man  as  man  was  nothing,  and 
had  no  rights.  The  State  pursued  its  own  selfish 
and  sordid  ends  without  any  regard  to  the  sacred 
personal  rights  of  the  individual.  Hence  war  and 
lust  and  anguish  unspeakable. 

We   cannot   be    too   frequently    reminded    that 
ancient  society  was  founded  upon  utter  contempt 


54  Social  Christianity. 


for  man  as  man.     It  is  the  more  necessary  that  we 
should  insist  upon  this  to-day,  because  there  are 
some  very  gifted  and  sincere,  though  ill-informed 
writers,  who  try  to  persuade  us,  and  especially  try 
to  persuade  the  young  men  and  young  women  of 
our  time,  that  Christianity  is  essentially  a  selfish 
religion,    that    Christianity    has   taught    men    to 
neglect  their  human  duty,  and  to  be  absorbed  in 
a  selfish  endeavour  to  escape  from  hell  and  to  get 
to  heaven.     I  do  not  deny  that  some  very  sincere 
Christians  may  have  presented  such  a  caricature  of 
Christianity  as  that.     But  when  we  begin  to  in- 
vestigate   the  question  historically,   we  shall  find 
that  apart  altogether  from  the  influence  of  Jesus 
Christ  upon  our  future,  He  has  already  done  more 
for  society  in  Europe  than  all  the  great  reformers 
before  Him ;  and  that  everything  in  the  existing 
civilization  of  this  country  of  which  we  have  any 
right  to   be  proud   is  due  to   Jesus   Christ.      He 
was  the  greatest  social    Reformer  the  world  has 
ever  seen.     He  did  not  only  more  for  heaven,  but 
a  great  deal  more  for  earth  than  was  ever  done 
before.     If  any  of  us  have  formed  so  mutilated  a 
conception  of  His  teaching  as  to  imagine  that  the 
Christian  ideal  is  to  save  our  own  souls  and  neglect 
our  fellow-citizens,  so  much  the  worse  for  us. 

Read   your   Bible   with   your   eyes    open,  read 
history  with  your  eyes  open,  and   then  you  will 


Christ  the  Greatest  of  Social  Reformers.   55 

see  that  however  fearfully  individual  Christians 
may  have  neglected  their  duty,  Jesus  Christ  came 
into  this  world  to  save  human  society  as  well  as 
to  save  individuals.  Indeed,  you  cannot  effectu- 
ally save  the  one  without  saving  the  other.  I 
implore  you  to  remember  that  when  Christ  came, 
man  as  man  had  no  rights  whatever  ;  and  if  that 
was  the  case  even  with  man,  I  need  scarcely  say 
it  was  much  more  the  case  with  woman.  There 
are  some  in  the  present  day  who  even  dare  to  tell 
us  that  Buddha  was  more  illustrious  than  Christ. 
What  has  Buddha  done  for  woman  in  comparison 
with  what  Christ  has  done  for  her?  When  Christ 
came,  woman  was  regarded  throughout  the  whole 
civilized  world  as  a  necessary  evil,  as  a  slave,  as 
alternately  the  plaything  and  the  plague  of  man  ; 
and  if  every  man  owes  so  much  to  Christ,  every 
woman  owes  a  great  deal  more.  In  the  "good 
old  times  "  before  Christ  came,  physical  force  was 
in  the  ascendant,  and  the  result  was  that  woman, 
having  less  physical  strength  than  man,  was  every- 
where degraded  and  enslaved. 

And  if  women  were  infamously  treated,  much 
more  were  children.  What  has  Buddha  done  for 
children  ?  In  every  country  where  the  influence 
of  Buddha  prevails,  infanticide  is  practised  and 
sanctioned.  So  it  was  in  the  Roman  Empire  and 
in  Greece.     Take  the  masterpiece  of  ancient  litera- 


56  Social  Christianity. 


ture,  the  ideal  Republic  of  Plato,  which  is  the 
special  study  of  every  classical  scholar.  Well, 
Plato,  in  his  ideal  Republic,  makes  provision,  on 
a  gigantic  scale,  for  the  murder  of  superfluous 
children.  Let  the  men  of  Europe,  and  especially 
the  working  men  of  Europe,  who  have  never  had 
the  opportunity  of  individual  research,  and  who 
are  in  danger  of  being  misled  by  the  use  of  such 
words  as  "republic"  and  "freedom,"  distinctly 
understand  that  when  Jesus  Christ,  the  greatest 
of  all  social  reformers,  came  into  this  world,  there 
was  no  protection  for  the  weak,  there  was  no 
comfort  for  the  sorrowful,  there  was  no  effective 
restraint  for  the  wicked. 

Christ  came,  and  the  great  Revolution  began  at 
once.  They  said  of  His  disciples,  soon  after  His 
crucifixion,  that  they  were  revolutionists,  and  that 
they  turned  the  world  upside  down ;  and  the 
impeachment  was  true.  They  were  the  greatest 
revolutionists  the  world  has  ever  seen.  They 
introduced  into  human  society  ideas  which  had 
never  entered  the  head  of  man  before,  and  the 
only  pity  is  that  their  revolution  has  not  gone  a 
great  deal  further.  When  Jesus  Christ  came  into 
this  world  He  began  to  address  crowds  of  poor 
people  in  the  open  air,  and  to  speak  of  their 
Father  in  Heaven.  The  very  fact  that  He  should 
address  the  crowd  at  all,  and  speak  of  God  as  the 


Christ  the  Greatest  of  Social  Reformers.   57 

Father  of  every  one  of  them — and  we  know  that 
there  were  many  publicans  and  sinners  in  that 
crowd — was  in  itself  a  revolution.  That  God  should 
have  a  fatherly  relation  and  a  tender  love  to  every- 
body was  an  unheard-of  and  a  most  revolutionary 
idea.  Then  listen  to  the  positive  teaching  of 
Christ  as  found  in  such  a  passage  as  that  which 
forms  my  text  this  afternoon,  a  passage  which 
states  that  "  A  man's  life  consisteth  not  in  the 
abundance  of  the  things  which  he  possesseth  " — 
that  a  man's  real  life  does  not  consist  in  the  posses- 
sion of  money-bags,  or  of  titles,  or  of  social  position. 
Why,  we  do  not  believe  that  yet;  so  revolutionary 
is  the  idea,  so  saturated  are  we  still  with  the  old 
pagan  notions  that  prevailed  before  Christ  came. 
If  I  were  to  meet  you  in  Oxford  Street,  and  say, 
"  What  is  Mr.  So-and-So  worth  ?  "  you  would  in- 
stantly begin  to  think  of  his  banker.  You  would 
naturally  suppose  that  I  wanted  to  know  how 
many  money-bags  he  had,  believing,  like  the  old 
heathen,  that  a  man's  worth  depended  upon  the 
money  he  possessed.  Jesus  Christ  contradicts  that 
idea.  He  says  that  a  man's  worth  depends  upon 
his  mental  quality,  and  yet  more  upon  his  moral 
quality,  apart  altogether  from  anything  else.  And 
to  prove  how  absolutely  unnecessary  it  is  to  have 
plenty  of  money,  Jesus  Christ  Himself  had  none. 
He  was  one  of  the  poorest  men  that  ever  lived, 


58  Social  Christianity. 

and  yet  the  very  greatest.  We  have  not  yet 
understood  the  immense  significance  of  the  fact 
that  Jesus  Christ  had  no  money  ;  and  that  He  set 
before  us  as  the  Ideal  Man  a  man  who  had  no 
money.  If  a  man  without  any  money  came  to 
some  of  our  magnificent  places  of  worship  to-day, 
we  should  not  give  him  a  seat  of  honour. 

A  very  observant  and  gifted  foreigner  who  lately 
visited  this  country,  went  away  from  England  with 
the  conviction  that  there  is  no  country  in  the 
world  where  poverty  is  so  much  despised  as  it  is  in 
England.  We  may  deny  that.  But  perhaps  other 
people  are  better  judges  of  us  than  we  are  of  our- 
selves. This  eminent  visitor  said  that  in  many 
sections  of  English  society,  poverty  is  practically 
regarded  as  a  crime.  You  will  remember  Mr. 
Pearse's  striking  illustration  of  that  widespread 
notion.  He  says  you  often  read  in  Christian 
biography  that  such  a  one  was  born  of  "  poor  but 
pious  parents."  Why  that  "  but  "  ?  Why  do  we 
never  read  of  "  rich  but  pious  parents  "  ?  Why 
should  our  phraseology  assume  that  there  is  a  kind 
of  natural  antagonism  between  poverty  and  piety  ? 
Jesus  Christ  says  that  "A  man's  life  consisteth 
not  in  the  things  which  he  possesseth."  Elsewhere 
He  teaches  us  that  a  man's  real  life  consists  in  his 
relationship  to  the  Father,  in  his  knowledge  of 
God,  and   in  his  enjoyment  of  the  love   of  God. 


Christ  the  Greatest  of  Social  Reformers.   59 

Therefore  we  find  Christ  saying,  at  the  close  of  the 
sixteenth  chapter  of  St.  Matthew,  "  What  shall  a 
man  be  profited  if  he  shall  gain  the  whole  world 
and  forfeit  his  life?"  I  am  glad  that  instead  of  the 
word  "soul,"  in  the  Revised  Version  the  word 
"  life  "  is  used. 

It  is  not  a  question  of  a  man's  soul  at  all,  as 
distinguished  from  his  body.  It  is  a  question  of 
his  true  life,  his  real  life,  which  St.  Paul  said  is 
"  hid  with  Christ  in  God."  "  What  shall  a  man 
give  in  exchange  for  that  life  ?  "  Suppose  he  gets 
all  the  money  in  the  Bank  of  England  and  sacri- 
fices that  "  life ;  "  suppose  he  has  all  the  titles  of 
honour  the  Queen  can  bestow,  and  is  spiritually 
"  dead;"  what  shall  it  profit  him  ?  Christ  declares 
that  all  the  prizes  of  this  world  are  mere  refuse  in 
comparison  with  that  life.  Now,  this  was  all  new. 
It  may  seem  to  you  old,  but  it  was  all  new.  It  had 
never  been  uttered  before  Christ  came.  He  was 
the  first  public  teacher  in  this  world  who  said  that 
man's  true  worth  was  to  be  determined,  not  by 
his  property,  not  by  his  social  position,  but  only 
and  entirely  by  what  he  was  in  himself,  by  his 
mind  and  by  his  heart;  and  that  there  were  certain 
absolute  and  indefeasible  rights  that  belonged  to 
every  individual  human  being. 

Jesus  Christ  says  that  every  man  as  a  man  is 
immeasurably  greater  than  wealth  or  rank  could 


60  Social  Christianity. 

ever  make  him.  He  was  the  first  teacher  of 
the  human  race  who  insisted  upon  the  sacred- 
ness  and  the  unspeakable  preciousness  of  every 
man,  woman,  and  child  in  the  world.  I  need 
scarcely  tell  you  the  practical  results  which  fol- 
lowed. If  every  human  being,  because  he  is  created 
in  the  image  of  God,  is  so  unspeakably  precious, 
how  much  we  ought  to  reverence  every  human 
being,  how  careful  not  to  infringe  upon  the  rights 
of  any  human  being,  how  solicitous  for  the 
happiness  of  every  human  being.  As  we  have 
seen  in  previous  Conferences,  in  the  old  Greek 
and  Roman  world  man  as  man  was  nothing. 
They  neither  reverenced  nor  respected  manhood. 
Many  of  the  most  gifted  men  of  Greece  deliberately 
murdered  thousands  of  their  fellow-creatures — not 
in  ordinary  war,  but  in  cold  blood — because  as 
men  they  were  without  any  recognised  right  or 
claim. 

On  the  other  hand,  contrast  with  this  the 
revolutionary  doctrine  of  Jesus  Christ,  as  found 
in  the  passage  in  which  He  said :  "  I  was  an 
hungred,  and  ye  gave  Me  no  meat :  I  was  thirsty, 
and  ye  gave  Me  no  drink  :  I  was  a  stranger,  and 
ye  took  Me  not  in :  naked,  and  ye  clothed  Me  not : 
sick,  and  in  prison,  and  ye  visited  Me  not."  And 
when  they  expressed  their  astonishment — for  they 
would  never  have  treated  Christ  Himself  so — He 


Christ  the  Greatest  of  Social  Reformers.  6 1 

answered  :  "  Inasmuch  as  ye  did  it  not  unto  one 
of  these  least,  ye  did  it  not  unto  Me."  Let  me 
transcribe  that  into  modern  English.  A  poor  little 
child,  shivering  and  half-naked,  asks  you  for  bread. 
You  turn  a  deaf  ear  to  him.  On  the  day  of  judg- 
ment, Christ  will  say:  "When  you  refused  bread  to 
that  little  boy,  you  refused  bread  to  Me."  A  harlot 
is  dying  in  a  back  slum.  You  say  :  "What  is  that 
woman  to  me  ?  She  suffers  for  her  own  sin." 
When  you  spurn  that  harlot  you  spurn  Christ. 
That  harlot  is  as  dear  to  Christ  as  the  Queen  of 
England 'herself ;  and  any  insult  offered  to  her, 
any  indifference  to  her  happiness,  touches  Him  as 
deeply  as  if  she  were  the  Princess  of  Wales. 

Christs  asserts,  as  the  Son  of  Man,  that  every 
man  is  His  brother;  that  every  woman  is  His 
sister.  A  pauper  is  dying,  and  you  say  :  "Nobody 
cares."  Yes  ;  there  is  One  who  cares.  Jesus 
Christ  cares.  He  cares  as  much  for  that  poor 
pauper  as  you  do  for  your  dearest  child.  A  des- 
pairing harlot  throws  herself  over  London  Bridge, 
and  is  drowned.  You  say,  "  Nobody  cares  for  her." 
Yes,  Jesus  Christ  cares  for  her,  and  He  cares  so 
much  that  every  man  who  ever  injured  that  woman, 
unless  he  repents  in  sackcloth  and  ashes,  will  go  to 
the  lowest  depths  of  hell.  This  is  a  new  thing 
indeed,  because  if  there  was  one  class  in  ancient 
history  that  was  universally  despised   it  was  the 


62  Social  Christianity 

class  to  which  that  woman  belonged.  Many  of 
you  admit  immoral  men  into  your  drawing-rooms, 
while  you  turn  away  with  hard  and  cruel  hearts 
from  your  fallen  sisters.  How  far  we  are  yet  from 
that  blissful  social  condition  in  which  you  will  all 
glory,  as  Jesus  Christ  gloried,  to  be  known  as  "the 
friend  of  harlots." 

We  have  laid  our  finger  upon  the  gaping  sore  of 
human  society.  Let  us  once  realize  the  sacredness 
of  every  human  being,  however  poor,  however 
ignorant,  however  degraded,  and  tyranny  becomes 
impossible,  lust  becomes  impossible,  war  becomes 
impossible.  This  is  the  new  idea  which  Jesus 
Christ  introduced  into  human  society.  This  is  the 
new  idea  which  will  ultimately  revolutionize  human 
society.  It  has  already  given  slavery  its  death- 
blow. It  was  not  any  discovery  on  the  part  of 
political  economists  that  destroyed  slavery.  It  was 
the  discovery  that  every  slave  was  a  man  and  a 
brother.  Then  down  went  slavery.  I  look  forward 
to  the  day  when  we  shall  all  realize — what  very  few 
of  us  have  realized  yet,  because  human  society  is 
still  to  so  great  an  extent  heathen — that  every 
individual  human  being,  created  in  the  image  of 
God,  is  unspeakably  dear  to  God,  and  must  be 
loved  and  reverenced  ;  that  the  State  itself  has 
only  a  limited  authority;  that  there  are  higher  laws 
than  the  laws  of  the  State,  even  the  laws  of  God  ; 


Christ  the  Greatest  of  Social  Reformers.   6$ 

and  that  the  glory  of  manhood  is  unspeakable  and 
Divine,  for  the  Ideal  Man  is  not  Adam,  but  Jesus 
of  Nazareth. 

When  we  begin  to  regard  every  human  being  as 
the  brother  or  sister  of  Jesus  Christ,  how  it  will 
alter  our  conduct !  We  meet  some  poor  prodigal 
in  rags  and  in  want.  He  excites  within  us  positive 
loathing,  but  we  know  that  the  hideous  creature  is 
a  son  or  a  brother  of  a  dear  friend  of  ours,  and  for 
the  sake  of  his  father  or  his  brother,  we  show  him 
every  courtesy  and  every  kindness.  Allow  a 
similar  thought  to  help  you  when  you  are  repelled 
by  the  degradation  or  the  wickedness  of  the  victims 
of  sin.  They  are  as  dear  to  the  heart  of  God  as 
you  are  yourself,  and  neither  you  nor  your  coun- 
try has  any  right  to  do  anything  that  will  injure 
them.  This  is  a  new  idea,  among  many  other  new 
ideas,  which  Christ  came  to  proclaim  and  to  act 
upon — an  idea  so  new,  so  revolutionary,  that  we 
do  not  believe  it  yet,  although  Christ  has  been 
trying  for  nineteen  centuries  to  persuade  us  of  its 
truth.  But  some  day  it  will  be  believed,  and  on 
that  day  sin  and  misery  will  begin  to  totter  toward 
their  final  fall. 


V. 

THE  CAREER  OF  THE  FIRST  GERMAN 
EMPEROR. 


6S 


Preached  in  St.  James's  Hall,  Sunday  Afiemoon, 
March  xii/i,   1 888. 


66 


V. 

THE  CAREER  OF  THE  FIRST  GERMAN 
EMPEROR. 

"  Now  the  rest  of  the  acts  of  Jehoshaphat,  and  his  might  that  he 
showed,  and  how  he  warred,  are  they  not  written  in  the  book  of  the 
chronicles  of  the  kings  of  Judah  ?  " — I  Kings  xxii.  45. 

EVERY  careful  reader  of  the  historical  books 
of  the  Old  Testament  must  be  struck  by  the 
way  in  which  inspired  writers  dismiss  the  details 
that  crowd  the  pages  of  secular  historians.  Instead 
of  giving  us  voluminous  accounts  of  sanguinary 
battles,  and  of  personal  squabbles  and  intrigues, 
they  leave  such  topics  to  the  mere  chroniclers  of 
Court  gossip.  In  the  case  of  Jehoshaphat,  for 
example,  the  sacred  writer  stops  abruptly  at  the 
very  point  where  an  ordinary  historian  would  begin 
to  enlarge.  Jehoshaphat  was  a  good  king  ;  but  as 
for  his  might  and  his  wars,  you  are  referred  for 
such  unimportant  details  to  the  uninspired  and 
now  long-lost  "Book  of  the  Chronicles  of  the  Kings 
of  Judah."  The  fact  is  that  there  are  two  opposite 
methods  of  writing  history.  There  is  the  super- 
ficial method  of  the  merely  mundane  writer,  who 
is  absorbed  by  the  show  and  glitter  of  the  passing 

67 


68  Social  Christianity. 


pageant,  and  there  is  the  philosophic  method  of 
the  Bible,  which  contemplates  all  events  in  their 
relation  to  God,  and  to  the  Divine  Ideal  which 
God  has  set  before  the  nations. 

The  late  Mr.  Green  seemed  to  be  the  first  Eng- 
lish historian  who  had  a  proper  conception  of  the 
true  object  of  history.  Instead  of  deluging  us  with 
the  blood  of  slaughtered  hosts,  and  wearying  us 
with  the  miserable  intrigues  and  scandals  of  high 
life,  he  wrote  a  "  history  of  the  English  people," 
and  judged  all  men  by  their  influence  upon  the 
life  and  character  of  the  English  people.  The 
Divine  ideal  for  every  individual  is  described  in 
Romans  viii.  28,  29.  There  we  are  taught  that  all 
things  work  together  for  "good  "  to  them  that  love 
God.  St.  Paul  immediately  adds  that  "good" 
consists  in  being  "  conformed  to  the  image  of  His 
Son  "  Jesus  Christ.  In  other  words,  the  true  ideal 
for  every  man  is  to  become  Christlike.  The  same 
ideal  is  set  before  every  nation.  Every  ruler  and 
every  politician  must  be  judged  from  this  Scrip- 
tural standpoint.  What  has  he  done  to  make  his 
people  more  Christlike?  What  has  he  done  to 
bring  the  laws  and  policy  of  his  people  into  har- 
mony with  the  ethical  teaching  of  Christ  ?  From 
this  point  of  view  we  must  contemplate  the  late 
German  Emperor.  And,  so  judged,  we  shall  find 
nothing    more    truly   admirable    in    his    illustrious 


The  Career  of  the  First  German  Emperor.  69 

career  than  the  essay  which  he  wrote  for  his 
father's  eye  on  the  solemn  occasion  when  he  was 
received  by  the  rite  of  confirmation  into  the 
National  Church  of  Germany.  I  am  indebted  to 
The  Times  for  the  following  extract  from  that 
memorable  essay : — 

I  rejoice  to  be  a  Prince,  because  my  rank  in  life  will  give 
me  many  opportunities  to  help  others.  I  am  far  from  think- 
ing myself  better  than  those  occupying  other  positions.  I 
am,  on  the  contrary,  fully  aware  that  I  am  a  man  exposed 
to  all  the  frailties  of  human  nature  ;  that  the  laws  governing 
the  action  of  all  classes  alike  apply  to  me  too  ;  and  that,  with 
the  rest  of  the  world,  I  shall  one  day  be  held  responsible  for 
my  deeds.  To  be  an  indefatigable  learner  and  striver  for  the 
good  of  my  country  shall  be  the  one  aim  of  my  public  life. 

What  could  be  more  wise  and  high-minded  than 
this  ?  He  did  well  to  rejoice  in  his  high  rank  as 
giving  him  unparalleled  opportunities  of  promoting 
the  public  good.  When  birth,  and  rank,  and 
wealth  are  used,  not  as  occasions  for  ignoble  pride 
or  base  self-indulgence,  but  as  rare  and  precious 
weapons  with  which  to  smite  evil  and  protect 
innocence,  they  are  a  blessing  both  to  those  who 
possess  them  and  to  all  the  people.  Ruskin  says 
truly  that  the  privileged  classes  are  the  natural 
leaders  of  men,  and  even  in  a  democratic  age  like 
this  they  might  still  lead  if  they  were  animated 
by  the  noble  principles  of  the  late  Emperor.  How 
excellent  and  how  beautiful   is  the  modesty  with 


70  Social  Christianity. 

which  the  young  prince  recognised  the  fact  that  he 
was  as  frail  and  mortal  as  the  rest  of  us,  and  that 
he  would  some  day  stand  at  a  Judgment  Seat 
where  the  Emperor  of  Germany  would  be  judged 
like  every  other  man,  according  to  the  deeds  done 
in  the  body. 

The  extract  I  have  read  ought  to  be  printed  in 
letters  of  gold  upon  the  Emperor's  tomb,  and  his 
country  might  add,  without  flattery,  that  he  honestly 
endeavoured  throughout  his  long  life  to  live  up  to 
the  splendid  ideal  which  he  set  before  himself  in 
his  early  manhood.  I  humbly  venture  to  believe 
that  I  am  not  one  of  those  degraded  ministers  of 
religion  who  are  ready  to  excuse  vice  when  it  is 
clothed  with  royal  purple,  or  to  pour  extravagant 
eulogies  at  the  feet  of  the  rulers  of  men.  I  have, 
therefore,  the  greater  joy  in  believing  and  saying 
to-day  that  the  late  Emperor  kept  the  promise 
which  he  made  when  he  entered  into  the  full  en- 
joyment of  the  privileges  of  the  Christian  Church. 
May  God  grant  that  all  the  young  men  who  hear 
me  now  may  strive  with  equal  patience  and  with 
equal  persistence  to  attain  the  noble  and  generous 
ideals  of  their  youth.  I  do  not  for  a  moment  pre- 
tend to  admire  all  the  acts  and  the  policy  of  the 
late  Emperor.  Before  I  have  done,  I  shall  mention 
where,  as  it  seems  to  me,  he  has  conspicuously 
failed.     But,  so  far  as  we  can  judge,  he  lived  up  to 


The  Career  of  the  First  German  Emperor.  7 1 

the  light  he  enjoyed,  and  he  honestly  sought  from 
first  to  last  to  obey  his  God  and  to  serve  his 
beloved  Fatherland. 

There  are,  at  least,  three  qualities  of  his  public 
life  which  are  worthy  of  our  gratitude  and  of  our 
imitation.  In  the  first  place,  how  industrious  he 
was  !  He,  at  any  rate,  lived  out  Carlyle's  gospel 
of  hard  work.  He  did  with  his  might  whatsoever 
his  hand  found  to  do.  His  simple  and  abstemious 
habits  were  an  incalculable  blessing  in  a  luxurious 
and  self-indulgent  age.  Both  in  war  and  in  peace 
he  shared  the  hardships  and  the  toil  of  those  who 
served  him.  A  little  more  of  German  economy 
and  simplicity  in  our  own  public  life  would  be  a 
great  gain.  In  the  second  place,  let  us  remember 
that  the  late  Emperor  worked  hard,  not  in  his  own 
interest,  but  in  obedience  to  a  high  sense  of  duty 
and  for  the  public  good.  Some  men  in  this  city 
are  killing  themselves  by  inches  in  order  to  grasp 
at  superfluous  wealth  with  which  to  imperil  and 
afflict  their  children.  The  late  Emperor  worked 
as  hard  as  they,  but  for  no  unworthy  end, — he 
toiled  for  the  unity  and  greatness  of  Germany.  In 
the  third  place,  the  real  secret  of  the  late  Emperor's 
strength  and  persistence  was  his  simple,  unaffected, 
evangelical  piety.  No  man  ever  recognised  the 
presence  and  need  of  God  more  openly  or  more 
constantly.      When,   during    the    Franco-German 


'j  2  Social  Christianity. 

war,  he  ascribed  his  victories  to  the  mercy  of  God, 
infidel  journals  both  in  France  and  in  this  country 
sneered  at  his  pious  references.  But  no  honest 
observer  could  doubt  his  entire  sincerity. 

How  significant  and  inspiring  was  the  death-bed 
scene.  The  Court  chaplain  repeated  verses  of  con- 
solation and  hope  from  David  and  Isaiah.  After 
each  of  them  the  Emperor  rejoined,  "  That  is 
beautiful !  "  When  the  chaplain  exclaimed,  "  I 
know  that  my  Redeemer  liveth ;  Christ  is  the 
Resurrection  and  the  Life,"  the  dying  monarch 
broke  in  with  "  That  is  right."  When,  later  in  the 
night,  his  beloved  daughter,  the  Grand  Duchess  of 
Baden,  asked  him  if  he  could  hear  the  words  that 
were  read,  he  answered,  "Mine  eyes  have  seen  Thy 
salvation."  Once  he  exclaimed  quite  spontaneously, 
when  there  was  a  pause  of  silence,  "  God  has  helped 
me  with  His  name."  After  further  quotations  from 
the  Psalms,  the  Emperor  cried  out  once  more,  "  It 
is  beautiful  ! " 

There  are  some  benighted  persons  who  imagine 
that  all  orthodox  evangelical  Christians  are  milk- 
sops. The  late  Emperor  was  an  impressive  proof 
that  the  most  simple  evangelical  piety  may  co-exist 
with  the  most  masculine  virtues  of  courage,  daring, 
and  enterprise.  The  career  of  Cromwell  ought 
to  have  taught  all  men  that.  The  life  of  the  late 
Emperor  was  a  striking  evidence  that  the  heroic 


The  Career  of  the  First  German  Emperor.  73 

energies  of  the  Reformation  still  survive  in  the 
Protestant  world.  The  Emperor  was  a  typical 
specimen  of  the  sturdy  German  Protestantism 
which  found  so  characteristic  and  mighty  a  voice 
in  Martin  Luther.  That  type  of  Christianity  is 
vividly  expressed  in  Luther's  great  hymn.  Let 
me  read  it  to  you  in  Carlyle's  translation,  which 
preserves  in  so  remarkable  a  degree  the  force  and 
ruggedness  of  the  original  : — 

"A  safe  stronghold  our  God  is  still, 
A  trusty  shield  and  weapon  ; 
He'll  help  us  clear  from  all  the  ill 
That  hath  us  now  o'ertaken. 
The  ancient  prince  of  Hell 
Hath  risen  with  purpose  fell  ; 
Strong  mail  of  craft  and  power 
He  weareth  in  this  hour  ; 
On  earth  is  not  his  fellow. 

With  force  of  arms  we  nothing  can, 
Full  soon  were  we  down-trodden  ; 
But  for  us  fights  the  proper  Man, 
Whom  God  Himself  hath  bidden. 
Ask  ye  who  is  this  same  ? 
Christ  Jesus  is  His  name, 
The  Lord  Sabaoth's  son  ; 
He,  and  no  other  one, 
Shall  conquer  in  the  battle. 

And  were  this  world  all  devils  o'er, 

And  watching  to  devour  us, 

We  lay  it  not  to  heart  so  sore  ; 

Not  they  can  overpower  us. 

And  let  the  prince  of  ill 


74  Social  Christianity. 

Look  grim  as  e'er  he  will, 
He  harms  us  not  a  whit : 
For  why?  His  doom  is  writ  ; 
A  word  shall  quickly  slay  him. 

God's  word,  for  all  their  craft  and  force, 

One  moment  will  not  linger, 
But,  spite  of  hell,  shall  have  its  course  ; 
'Tis  written  by  His  finger. 

And  though  they  take  our  life, 
Goods,  honour,  children,  wife, 
Yet  is  their  profit  small ; 
These  things  shall  vanish  all ; 
The  city  of  God  remaineth." 

I  admit  that  the  gospel  of  Luther's  hymn  is  not 
the  Gospel  according  to  St.  John,  which  we  of  this 
Mission  specially  love.  It  is  not  even  the  Gospel 
according  to  St.  Paul.  But  it  is  the  Gospel  accord- 
ing to  St.  James,  who  was  the  brother  of  our  Lord 
and  a  holy  apostle.  At  certain  periods  of  human 
history  the  strong,  stern,  practical  teaching  of  St. 
James  is  specially  needed.  At  all  periods  it  has 
its  important  place  in  this  many-sided  world. 

Before  I  close  let  me  utter  a  note  of  warning 
against  the  plausible  misuse  of  the  deceased 
Emperor's  career  which  the  advocates  of  militar- 
ism are  already  making.  "  There,"  they  are  say- 
ing, "nothing  succeeds  like  a  blood-and-iron  policy. 
All  this  chatter  about  peace  and  brotherly  love  is 
mischievous  nonsense.  Men  cannot  be  ruled  by 
love.     You  must  have  a  strong  army,  and  all  will 


The  Career  of  the  First  German  Emperor.  75 


be  well.  God  is  on  the  side  of  the  big  battalions.'' 
The  first  Napoleon  said  that,  but  he  lived  to  dis- 
cover that  his  "  big  battalions  "  could  not  avert  the 
irreparable  disasters  which  fitly  closed  his  infamous 
career.  The  life  of  the  late  Emperor,  when  clearly- 
understood,  teaches  the  exact  opposite  of  the 
doctrine  which  the  advocates  of  militarism  try  to 
found  on  it.  It  must  not  be  forgotten  that  the 
late  Emperor  fought  with  four  adversaries,  but 
that  he  defeated  only  two  of  them.  He  fought 
with  Austria  and  won.  He  fought  with  France 
and  won.  But  he  fought  also  with  the  Pope  and 
with  the  Socialists,  and  did  not  win. 

When  blood  and  iron  are  opposed  to  blood  and 
iron,  they  may  be  the  instruments  which  enable  the 
right  side  to  win.  But  when  we  have  to  contend 
with  religious  or  political  convictions,  we  must 
employ  very  different  weapons.  The  Emperor 
defeated  Austria  because  Austria  then  represen- 
ted domestic  despotism  of  the  most  detestable 
character.  The  overthrow  of  Austria  was  one  of 
the  greatest  blessings  that  the  God  of  freedom  and 
justice  ever  granted  to  the  long-afflicted  people 
of  Central  Europe.  Again,  the  late  German 
Emperor  defeated  France,  because  France  then 
represented  foreign  despotism  as  odious  as  that 
of  Austria.  The  overthrow  of  the  corrupt  and 
lascivious  Bonapartist  adventurers  was  an  immense 


76  Social  Christianity. 


service  to  the  whole  world,  and,  above  all,  to  France. 
So  far,  the  sword  of  the  German  Emperor,  like  the 
sword  of  Washington  and  the  sword  of  Cromwell 
and  the  sling  of  David,  was  the  instrument  per- 
mitted by  God  to  crush  cruelty  and  oppression. 
But  when  the  German  Emperor  tried  to  conquer 
the  Pope  by  force,  his  weapon  was  blunted  in  his 
hand,  and  he  suffered  an  ignominious  defeat.  As 
an  evangelical  Protestant,  my  sympathies  were,  of 
course,  with  the  Emperor  ;  but  the  end  does  not 
justify  the  means,  and  the  pure  primitive  Gospel 
can  never  be  advanced  at  the  point  of  the  sword. 
Peter  made  that  mistake,  and  we  know  how  sternly 
our  Lord  rebuked  him  ;  and  how  promptly  He  bade 
him  replace  his  sword  in  his  scabbard. 

There  is  only  one  way  of  defeating  the  Pope,  and 
that  is  to  be  a  more  Christ-like  Christian  than  he 
is,  and  to  offer  to  mankind  a  more  complete  and 
divine  Gospel.  To  put  priests  in  prison  is  only  to 
make  them  martyrs,  and  to  increase  their  influence. 
Cromwell  tried  to  crush  Romanism  in  Ireland  by 
brute  force,  and  he  only  succeeded  in  making  Ire- 
land the  most  intensely  Roman  Catholic  country 
in  Europe.  Christ  absolutely  disclaimed  the  use  of 
force  for  the  extension  of  His  kingdom.  The  only 
result  of  the  late  Emperor's  fatal  blunder  was  to 
paralyse  the  Old  Catholic  movement,  and  to  make 
the   Pope  stronger  in    Germany   than   ever.     The 


The  Career  of  the  First  German  Emperor.  77 

only  way  to  convert  Roman  Catholics  is  to  melt 
their  hearts  with  love,  and  then  to  convince  their 
minds  with  the  Word  of  God. 

The  other  colossal  mistake  of  the  late  Emperor 
was  his  attempt  to  suppress  Socialism  by  military 
force.  He  declared  whole  cities  in  a  state  of  siege, 
he  suppressed  newspapers,  he  dispersed  public 
meetings,  he  imprisoned  members  of  Parliament. 
What  was  the  result  ?  The  Socialist  vote  in- 
creased at  each  successive  election.  You  can  never 
put  down  political  convictions  by  a  blood -and- 
iron policy.  Socialism  may  be  illogical  and  mis- 
chievous, but  unless  and  until  Socialists  proceed 
to  overt  and  unconstitutional  acts,  you  will  only 
assist  them  and  swell  their  ranks  by  persecuting 
them.  Sane  and  unprejudiced  public  men  have 
long  agreed  that  all  attempts  to  prevent  free 
speech  are  mischievous.  It  may  be  very  annoying 
and  wearisome  to  argue  with  men  whom  you  re- 
gard as  wicked  or  misguided  agitators.  But  you 
cannot  put  them  down  by  brute  force  so  long  as 
they  attempt  no  actual  breach  of  the  peace.  You 
must  lovingly  argue  with  them,  and  show  them 
their  folly. 

Men  are  open  to  argument,  unless  you  begin  by 
outraging  their  sense  of  justice.  Further,  it  must 
be  said  that  it  will  be  impossible  to  arrest  the 
Socialistic    propaganda  unless  we  infuse  into  our 


78  Social  Christianity. 


public  life  that  deep  and  intense  sympathy  with 
the  poor  which  Colonel  Duncan,  of  Finsbury,  so 
wisely  demands.  Unless  you  can  persuade  the 
masses  of  the  people  that  you  pity  them,  and  sym- 
pathise with  them  at  least  as  much  as  the  Socialists 
do,  they  will  be  more  and  more  inclined  to  accept 
the  Socialist  creed.  All  subversive  political  parties 
thrive  upon  social  misery.  Remove  the  causes  of 
social  misery,  and  you  destroy  the  roots  of  social 
discontent.  Force  is  no  remedy.  The  compassion 
of  the  good  Samaritan  is  the  remedy. 

We  may  find  further  evidence  of  these  great 
Scriptural  truths  in  the  sequel  of  the  Franco- 
German  war,  especially  when  we  contrast  it  with 
the  sequel  of  the  war  with  Austria.  When  Austria 
was  overthrown,  the  German  Emperor  was  greatly 
tempted  to  annex  Bohemia.  But  the  sagacity 
of  Prince  Bismarck  saw  that  the  annexation  of 
Bohemia  would  be  a  perpetual  cause  of  Austrian 
hatred.  After  a  severe  struggle,  in  which  Prince 
Bismarck  was  obliged  to  threaten  resignation,  the 
King  of  Prussia  gave  way,  and  Bohemia  was 
restored  to  Austria.  What  was  the  result  of  that 
magnanimous  policy  ?  Why,  that  ill-will  ceased. 
Austria  nobly  accepted  her  new  position,  and  in 
a  few  years  Austria  became  the  warm  friend  of 
Germany,  and  all  cause  of  suspicion  on  either  side 
died   away.     How  different,  alas !  was  the  sequel 


The  Career  of  the  First  German  Emperor.  79 

of  the  war  with  France.  Then,  again,  to  his  eternal 
honour,  Prince  Bismarck  did  his  utmost  to  prevent 
the  annexation  of  Lorraine.  But  this  time  the 
Emperor  was  supported  by  Von  Moltke  and  the 
military  party,  and  Prince  Bismarck  was  defeated. 
The  result  which  he  foresaw  has  come  to  pass. 
The  violent  seizure  of  purely  French  territory  has 
left  an  open  sore,  which  time  cannot  heal.  If  the 
magnanimous  policy  which  had  prevailed  with 
Austria  had  been  repeated  with  France,  the  same 
happy  result  would  have  followed.  The  great  and 
gifted  French  people  are  quite  as  capable  as  the 
Austrians  of  appreciating  magnanimous  and  con- 
ciliatory conduct. 

What  has  Germany  gained  by  annexing  French 
territory  ?  Eighteen  years  of  suspicion,  hatred, 
misery,  and  unendurable  military  burdens.  She 
would  have  been  ten  times  richer,  stronger,  and 
happier  to-day,  if  in  the  hour  of  her  great  victory 
she  had  exhibited  more  of  the  mind  of  Christ. 
We  all  pray  very  earnestly  that  the  life  of  the  new 
German  Emperor,  Frederick  III.,  may  be  spared, 
and  that  his  well-known  humanity  and  love  of 
peace  may  exercise  a  beneficent  influence  over  the 
counsels   of  Europe.*     But  he   will  indeed  make 

*  The  infinite  and  omniscient  love  of  God  has  answered 
our  prayers  otherwise  than  we  had  hoped. 


So  SociaC  Christianity. 

himself  illustrious,  immeasurably  more  illustrious 
than  he  could  ever  be  made  by  another  Sadovva  or 
another  Sedan,  if  he  avails  himself  of  his  great 
opportunity  to  conciliate  France.  A  soft  answer 
will  turn  away  wrath.  He  can  hold  out  a  hand  of 
friendship  and  peace  without  any  loss  of  dignity, 
without  any  imputation  of  an  unworthy  motive. 
Let  him  treat  France  as  kindly  and  as  wisely  as 
his  father  treated  Austria.  Then  the  greatest  peril 
of  the  united  German  people  will  pass  away  for 
ever.  We  close  our  review  of  the  most  successful 
military  career  of  our  time  with  the  conviction,  that 
instead  of  sanctioning  or  encouraging  those  who 
delight  in  war,  it  is  really,  when  viewed  narrowly 
and  viewed  as  a  whole,  a  fresh  and  striking  proof 
of  our  great  Master's  doctrine  that  "the  meek  shall 
inherit  the  earth." 


VI. 

GENERAL   GORDON'S  IDEA    OF   CHRIS- 
TIANITY. 


Preached  in  St.  James's  Hall,  Sunday  afternoon, 
March  2$thy  iSSS. 


VI. 


GENERAL   GORDONS  IDEA    OF  CHRIS- 
TIANITY. 

"  Whosoever  shall  confess  that    Jesus   is  the  Son  of  Cod,   God 
abideth  in  him,  and  he  in  God." — i  John  iv.  15. 

GENERAL  GORDON  was  one  of  the  most 
heroic  and  impressive  characters  of  our  time. 
Few  have  so  deeply  stirred  the  hearts  and  ima- 
ginations of  men.  It  is  interesting  and  instructive 
to  examine  his  idea  of  Christianity.  I  am  far 
from  endorsing  some  of  his  views.  His  fatalism, 
his  universalism,  and  his  materialistic  sacramenta- 
rianism  are,  it  seems  to  me,  entirely  unscriptural. 
But  when  a  bee  lights  upon  a  lovely  flower,  it  does 
not  trouble  itself  about  the  dust  which  may  have 
accumulated  upon  the  petals,  or  about  the  obnox- 
ious insects  crawling  to  and  fro  on  the  leaves. 
It  collects  all  the  sweet  honey  it  can  find,  and  flies 
away.  In  like  manner,  leaving  on  one  side  the 
controversial  and  subordinate  notions  of  General 
Gordon,  let  us  gather  what  spiritual  honey  we  can 
from  his  brave  and  devout  life.  Nothing  throws 
a  more  vivid  light  upon  a  man's  character  and  con- 
victions than  his  favourite  quotations. 

83 


84  Social  Christianity. 

Now,   we   learn    from  General  Gordon's   letters 

to  his  sister,  which  have  just  been  published,  that 

he  had  three  favourite  quotations.     The  first  was 

from  the  Book  of  Proverbs  :  "  Trust  in  the  Lord 

with  all  thine  heart ;  and  lean  not  unto  thine  own 

understanding.    In  all  thy  ways  acknowledge  Him, 

and  He  shall  direct  thy  paths"   (Prov.    iii.  5,6). 

That  was  Gordon's  rule  of  conduct,  and  it  was  the 

subject  of  our  Conference  last  Sunday  afternoon. 

Another  quotation  which  was    constantly   on   his 

lips  was  from  a  hymn — 

"  Oh  !  ask  not  then,  How  shall  I  bear 
The  burden  of  to-morrow? 
Sufficient  for  the  day  its  care, 

Its  evil  and  its  sorrow. 
God  imparteth  by  the  way 
Strength  sufficient  for  the  day." 

That  verse  reveals  Gordon's  melancholy  and  his 
tendency  to  a  kind  of  pessimism.  We  will  ex- 
amine that  aspect  of  his  character  next  Sunday 
afternoon — the  afternoon  of  the  great  day  of  the 
Christian  year.  In  the  glorious  light  of  the  Easter 
triumph  we  shall  find  no  place  for  the  cloud  that 
sometimes  shadowed  the  thoughts  of  General 
Gordon.  To-day  we  turn  our  attention  to  the 
third  of  his  favourite  quotations,  our  text.  We 
learn  now,  for  the  first  time,  that  General  Gordon 
attached  the  very  highest  importance  to  the  words 
of  St.  John  which  I  have  read  to  you.      This  verse 


General  Gordons  Idea  of  Christianity.  85 

declares,  in  his  judgment,  and,  I  may  add,  in  mine 
the  very  essence  of  the  Christian  religion.  In  1867 
he  wrote :  "  I  am  more  than  ever  convinced  that 
the  secret  of  happiness  and  holiness  is  in  the  in- 
dwelling of  God.  I  think  it  is  the  key  to  much  of 
the  Scripture."  In  1883,  when  he  was  on  the  eve 
of  his  last  and  tragical  mission  to  Africa,  he  wrote 
often  and  exultingly  of  our  bodies  as  the  temples 
of  God,  and  spoke  in  his  strong  and  epigrammatic 
way  of  "man  as  the  incarnation  of  the  Holy 
Ghost." 

Gordon  held  that  God — that  is,  Christ ;  that  is, 
the  Spirit  of  Christ — is  in  every  man,  but  that  only 
those  who  "  confess  "  Christ  are  "conscious  of"  the 
indwelling  presence  of  God.  He  argued  in  this 
way :  Man  is  naturally  fallen,  and  has  no  good 
thing  in  himself.  Whatever  good  thing  is  in  him 
must,  therefore,  be  due  to  the  presence  of  God 
in  him,  even  though  he  may  be  so  unconscious 
of  the  indwelling  and  inspiring  presence  of  God 
as  to  consider  himself  an  atheist.  To  express  this 
in  another  way,  he  held  that  no  man  can  do  any 
good  thing  without  the  quickening  Spirit  of  God. 
Gordon  practically  regarded  the  whole  human  race 
as  a  living  organism,  a  gigantic  man,  of  which 
Christ  is  the  Head.  You  will  remember  how  the 
same  idea  is  expressed  by  St.  Paul  in  1  Corin- 
thians xi.   3  :  "  The  head  of  every  man  is  Christ." 


86  Social  Christianity. 


The  learned  Bishop  of  Gloucester  observes  in  his 
recently-published  Commentary  on  this  Epistle 
that  by  "  man "  in  this  clause  St.  Paul  docs  not 
mean  merely  "  Christian  man,"  but  every  man 
absolutely. 

Those  who  arc  familiar  with  the  ideas  of  the 
Positivist  school  will  know  how  fond  the  followers 
of  Comtc  are  of  this  beautiful  illustration  of  the 
solidarity  of  the  human  race.  But  they  have  no 
head  for  the  living  organism.  They  reduce  the 
race  of  Adam  to  a  headless  and  incomprehensible 
trunk. 

Gordon,  on  the  other  hand,  echoing  the  great 
conception  of  St.  Paul,  regarded  the  whole  human 
race  as  Christ's  body,  in  which  Christ  still  lives 
and  toils  and  suffers  on  earth.  In  1SS1  he  wrote  : 
"  The  more  we  reflect  on  it,  the  more  we  shall  be- 
lieve that  our  Lord,  even  now,  is  Man  as  He  was 
when  here  ;  that  He  can  be  well  pleased  and 
grieved  now  as  He  could  then ;  that  He  is  in 
reality  suffering  from  sickness  and  sorrow  in  the 
slums  of  the  world,  in  the  bodies  of  His  members  ; 
and  that  to  administer  to  them  is  to  administer 
to  Him  and  rejoice  His  heart,  even  as  our  hearts 
at  times  rejoice."  In  a  similar  strain  he  writes 
again  in  the  same  year :  "  I  hope  (D.V.)  to  put 
myself  in  communication  with  some  of  our  Scrip- 
ture-reader people,  and  shall  try  and  visit  Christ, 


General  Gordons  Idea  of  Christianity.  87 

who  is  in  the  East  End  in  the  flesh."  Gordon 
justifies  these  last  startling  words  by  referring  to 
the  well-known  utterance  of  our  Lord  :  "  Inas- 
much as  ye  did  it  unto  one  of  these  My  brethren, 
even  these  least,  ye  did  it  unto  Me." 

How  can  we  resist  General  Gordon's  conclusion? 
Our  Lord  distinctly  declared  that  any  kindness 
shown  to  the  starving  poor,  to  the  friendless,  to  the 
sick,  and  to  the  criminal  classes,  will  be  regarded 
as  a  personal  kindness  to  Himself,  so  absolutely 
docs  He  identify  Himself  with  the  most  miserable 
and  the  most  wicked  of  men.  In  another  letter 
Gordon  expresses  the  same  idea  in  the  following 
terms  :  "  A  kind  word  to  a  crossing-sweeper  de- 
lights Christ  in  him,  as  much  as  it  would  delight 
Christ  in  a  queen."  Every  one  will  realize  with 
what  new  diginity  and  new  hope  this  conception 
clothes  each  individual  life.  If  the  Spirit  of  Christ 
is  in  every  man,  seeking  to  save,  we  need  not  de- 
spair even  of  the  most  degraded  and  abandoned. 
So  long  as  Christ  is  in  that  man  or  that  woman,  all 
may  yet  be  well.  The  hidden  Light  may  dissolve 
the  darkness  in  which  it  is  enveloped.  The  sacred 
fire  of  Divine  love  may  yet  triumph  over  the  cold- 
ness of  death. 

Again,  this  conception  of  the  relation  of  every 
man  to  Christ  gives  new  importance  and  new 
sacredness  to  "  the  service  of  man,"  which  becomes 


88  Social  Christianity. 

literally  "the  service  of  God."  Some  of  us  have 
often  been  tempted  to  lament  that  we  did  not  live 
nineteen  centuries  ago.  "  Ah,"  many  a  heart  has 
exclaimed,  "if  I  had  only  lived  in  Galilee  when 
Jesus  lived  there,  I  would  not  have  deserted  Him, 
I  would  have  found  heaven  in  ministering  to  His 
daily  need."  My  friend,  if  there  is  any  truth  in 
what  General  Gordon,  and  St.  Paul,  and  the  Master 
Himself  have  said,  that  is  a  quite  unnecessary 
regret.  You  may  minister  to  Christ  quite  as 
literally  to-day  as  if  you  had  lived  in  Galilee  long 
ago.  Every  kindness  that  you  show  to  the 
drunkards  of  the  Regent  Street  slums,  to  the  har- 
lots of  Piccadilly,  and  to  the  starving  poor  every- 
where, is  a  kindness  shown  to  Jesus  Christ. 

Christ  is  in  every  man  ;  but,  said  Gordon,  every 
man  is  not  "  conscious  "  of  it ;  or,  as  I  should  prefer 
to  say,  every  man  is  not  "in  Christ."  St.  Paul 
speaks  of  certain  kinsmen  who  were  "in  Christ 
before  "  he  was  (Rom.  xvi.  7).  We  have  to  realize, 
to  complete,  to  perpetuate  our  union  with  Christ. 
How  ?  I  think  General  Gordon  would  have  replied 
that  we  are  to  do  that  by  participating  in  the  Holy 
Communion.  He  ultimately  developed  a  most  ex- 
aggerated and  even  grotesque  sacramentarianism. 
If  he  or  any  one  else  said  that  Ave  were  to  develop 
our  life  in  Christ  by  participating  in  the  Holy 
Communion    "  worthily,"     that    additional     word 


General  Gordons  Idea  of  Christianity.  89 

would  make  all  the  difference,  and  I  could  accept 
it.  Everything  depends  upon  the  intention  and 
attitude  of  soul  with  which  we  receive  the  sacra- 
ment. After  all,  the  bread  and  wine  are  merely  a 
symbol  of  reality  ;  and  the  symbol  may  be  used 
without  the  reality,  just  as  the  reality  may  exist  in 
a  Quaker  without  the  symbol. 

Take  a  parallel  illustration — the  use  of  the  ring 
in  marriage.  If  the  ring  is  used  as  the  symbol  of 
a  union  to  which  there  is  no  legal  or  moral  impedi- 
ment, it  is  the  expression  of  a  most  sacred  and 
blessed  fact.  But  I  have  known  profligate  men 
who  have  placed  a  wedding  ring  on  the  hands  of 
their  abandoned  mistresses.  In  that  case  the  sacred 
symbol  with  all  its  hallowed  associations,  was  a 
lie  and  a  snare.  In  like  manner  the  outward  act 
of  receiving  the  bread  and  wine  may  mean  much 
or  less  than  nothing.  We  cannot  rest  in  the  out- 
ward form.  Since  I  came  to  St.  James's  Hall  I 
have  had  conversations  with  inquirers  who  have 
been  regular  communicants  in  Christian  Churches 
for  years,  but  who,  so  far  from  being  real  Chris- 
tians, have  never  even  known  how  to  utter  a 
genuine  prayer  to  God. 

If  the  sacrament  is  received  intelligently  and 
worthily ;  if  it  is  the  outward  expression  of  an  in- 
ward act  and  dedication  of  the  soul  ;  if  we  then 
and  there  feed  upon  Christ  in  our  hearts  by  faith, 


90  Social  Christianity. 

it  is  the  central  act  of  Christian  worship,  and  the 
highest  and  most  blessed  of  all  the  means  of  grace. 
But  if  it  be  a  mere  physical  and  conventional  act, 
then,  truly,  "  he  that  eateth  and  drinketh,  eateth 
and  drinketh  judgment  unto  himself"  (i  Cor.  xi. 
29).  What,  then,  must  we  do  in  order  to  realize 
and  complete  our  union  with  Christ  ?  What  is 
that  real  act  of  the  soul  of  which  the  Lord's 
Supper  is  the  outward  and  visible  sign?  What 
must  we  do  in  order  that  we  may  be  "  in  Christ," 
as  Christ  is  "  in  us  "  ?  We  cannot  express  our 
part  in  the  blessed  consummation  better  than  in 
the  familiar  words  of  our  Lord  Himself.  We  must 
"  abide  "  in  Him.  You  remember  how  He  illus- 
trates our  relation  to  Himself  by  the  vine  and  its 
branches.  We  must  abide  in  Him  as  the  branch 
abides  in  the  vine. 

We  must  identify  ourselves  absolutely  with 
Him.  We  must  have  no  will,  or  purpose,  or  object 
in  life,  apart  from  Him.  We  must  yield  ourselves 
unconditionally,  altogether  to  Him  ;  so  that  we 
may  no  longer  have  any  existence  separate  from 
Him  ;  so  that,  as  St.  Paul  says,  we  may  no  longer 
live,  but  He  may  live  in  us.  General  Gordon 
expresses  this  very  clearly.  Writing  in  1862,  he 
says  :  "  To  be  like  Christ  we  must  not  only  have 
our  will  subordinated  to  His,  but  be  delighted  to 
have  it  so,  and  even  seek  it."     "  It  is  to  be  counted 


General  Gordons  Idea  of  Christianity.  91 

an  idiot,  an  idealist,  an  impossible  sort  of  person,  a 
theorist,  an  indiscreet  person,  an  (apparent)  con- 
doner  of  evil,  an  enthusiast,  a  mean-spirited  person. 
It  is  not  prayer-meetings,  or  church-going,  or 
parish-visiting."  "Endeavour  to  realize  your 
identity  with  and  absorption  in  Christ ;  endeavour 
to  realize  what  He  as  man  feels  for  us  ;  endeavour 
to  grasp  His  feelings,  His  power  over  all  things  in 
heaven  and  earth,  for  we  are  entirely  one  with  Him 
in  all  things,  and  He  with  us.  We  are  partners 
with  Him  for  weal  and  woe.  He  needs  you  as 
much  as  you  need  Him." 

In  these  sentences  General  Gordon  proves  how 
absolutely  all  real  Christians  are  agreed  on  the 
essential  questions ;  however  widely  they  may 
differ  with  respect  to  the  precise  meaning  of  the 
Sacrament  and  to  subordinate  questions  of  ecclesi- 
astical polity.  Let  me  conclude  by  putting  this 
fundamental  truth  in  a  more  familiar  form.  We 
must  all  choose  between  self  and  Christ.  We  can 
live  to  self,  or  we  can  live  to  Christ.  Which 
shall  it  be  ?  Because  Christ  is  "  in  us,"  we  can  live 
to  Him.  His  indwelling  Spirit  gives  us  power  to 
live  no  longer  to  ourselves,  but  to  Him  who  died 
for  us,  and  rose  again.  On  the  other  hand,  we 
may  refuse  to  be  "  in  Christ,"  we  may  live  to  please 
ourselves,  to  do  what  is  right  in  our  own  eyes,  to 
lean  unto  our  own  understanding,  to  go  our  own 


92  Social  Christianity. 

independent,  lawless,  self-assertive  way.  Many  of 
you  remember  the  beautiful  and  striking  words  by 
which  the  saintly  Theodore  Monod  describes  the 
great  change  in  his  life  from  self  to  Christ.  Let 
me  quote  them  : — 

"  Oh  !  the  bitter  shame  and  sorrow 
That  a  time  could  ever  be 
When  I  proudly  said  to  Jesus  : 
'All  of  self,  and  none  of  Thee.' 

Yet,  He  found  me  ;  I  beheld  Him 
Bleeding  on  the  accursed  tree  ; 
And  my  wistful  heart  said  faintly, 
'  Some  of  self,  and  some  of  Thee.' 

Day  by  day  His  tender  mercy, 

Healing,  helping,  full,  and  free, 
Brought  me  lower,  and  I  whispered  : 
'Less  of  self,  and  more  of  Thee.' 

Higher  than  the  highest  heaven, 

Deeper  than  the  deepest  sea, 
Lord,  Thy  love  at  last  has  conquered  : 
'None  of  self,  and  all  of  Thee  ! ' ;' 

God  grant  that  we  all  may  thus  fully  "  abide  in 
Christ,"  so  that  we  may  be  able  to  say  with  St. 
Paul,  "  I  have  been  crucified  with  Christ  ;  and  it  is 
no  longer  I  that  live,  but  Christ  liveth  in  me." 


VII. 

"ROBERT    ELSMERE"    AND    MR.    GLAD- 
STONES  CRITICISM   OF  THE  BOOK. 


Preached  in  St.  James's  Hall,  Sunday  Evening, 
May  6th,   1888. 


VII. 


"ROBERT    ELSMERE"    AND    MR.    GLAD- 
STONE'S CRITICISM  OF  THE  BOOK. 

"  He  that  hath  the  Son  hath  the  life  ;  he  that  hath  not  the  Son  oj 
God  hath  not  the  life." — I  John  v.  12. 

ACCORDING  to  public  announcement,  I  am 
to  speak  this  afternoon  of  the  remarkable 
book  which  is  exciting  so  much  interest  in  literary 
circles,  and  of  which  Mr.  Gladstone  has  written  an 
equally  remarkable  review  in  The  Ninctccntli  Cen- 
tury. Mr.  Gladstone  says  that  "this  book  is 
eminently  an  offspring  of  the  time,  and  will  prob- 
ably make  a  deep,  or,  at  least,  a  very  sensible  im- 
pression ;  not,  however,  among  mere  novel  readers, 
but  among  those  who  share,  in  whatever  sense,  the 
deeper  thought  of  the  period."  I  entirely  share 
Mr.  Gladstone's  estimate  of  the  book.  Like  him, 
I  am,  of  course,  unable  to  accept  its  main  teach- 
ing, and  I  shall  be  compelled  to  offer  some  serious 
objections  to  it.  I  am,  therefore,  the  more  anxious, 
at  the  very  outset,  to  bear  my  strong  testimony  to 
the  high  qualities,  both  literary  and  moral,  of  its 
gifted  writer,  and  especially  to  mention  the  candour 

95 


g6  Social  Christianity, 

with  which  she  has  exhibited  the  heartless  selfish- 
ness of  some  sceptics,  as  well  as  the  deep  insight 
into  human  character  which  distinguishes  so  many- 
parts  of  the  book.  The  Times  classes  it  among 
the  "  clever  attacks  upon  revealed  religion,"  and 
when  we  remember  Mrs.  Humphry  Ward's  intimate 
relations  with  that  newspaper,  we  may  conclude 
that  this  description  is  not  inaccurate.  Yet  I 
scarcely  think  she  would  care  to  put  it  in  that 
way  herself. 

To  me  it  is  very  interesting — first,  because  it 
is  a  faithful  and  vivid  revelation  of  the  literary 
scepticism  of  our  time  ;  and,  secondly,  because  it 
is  an  explicit  statement  of  the  best  attempt  at 
religious  reconstruction  yet  made  on  the  sceptical 
side.  I  have  also  a  certain  personal  interest 
in  the  book,  because  I  had  a  slight  acquaint- 
ance with  several  of  the  Oxford  men  who  are  sup- 
posed to  have  suggested  the  principal  characters. 
I  was  one  of  the  earliest  admirers  of  Robert 
Elsmere's  historical  genius.  I  used  to  hear  the 
Provost  of  St.  Anselm's  discourse  on  Aristotle.  I 
have  probably  attended  the  lectures  of  Mr.  Lang- 
ham  at  Balliol.  I  once  had  a  singular  correspond- 
ence with  Squire  Wendover.  And  as  to  Mr.  Grey, 
the  great  hero  of  the  book,  I  knew  him,  and  loved 
him  as  all  who  knew  him  loved  him.  I  heard  the 
last  course  of  prelections  he  delivered  at  Balliol.     I 


"Robert  Elsmere^  and  Mr.  Gladstone.  97 

believe  the  very  last  public  lecture  he  ever  gave  was 
given  in  my  own  schoolroom,  to  a  humble  literary 
society  of  young  Methodists.  .  Such  was  the  broad 
sympathy  and  such  the  unselfishness  of  the  man 
that,  even  after  what  proved  to  be  his  fatal  illness 
had  begun,  he  dragged  himself  forth  to  fulfil  his 
engagement  with  us.  At  his  funeral,  vividly  de- 
scribed in  this  book,  I  was  one  of  the  sincerest 
mourners.  And,  as  a  farther  illustration  of  the 
universal  affection  which  he  evoked,  I  may  add 
that  I  was,  on  that  occasion,  accompanied  by  all 
my  ministerial  colleagues  and  by  all  the  lay  repre- 
sentatives of  my  church.  Mr.  Grey  is  the  name 
given  to  the  late  Professor  Thomas  Hill  Green. 

Mrs.  Humphry  Ward's  book  may  be  described 
as  a  lengthy  tract  written  in  the  interests  of  the 
religious  teaching  of  Professor  Green.  I  well  re- 
member Mr.  Green's  last  prelection.  The  ethics  it 
vehemently  enforced  were  precisely  those  which, 
in  other  terms,  I  propound  here  every  Friday  night. 
It  was  what  we  Methodists  call  Entire  Sanctifica- 
tion,  or  Christian  Holiness,  or  Perfect  Love.  It 
was  the  ethics  of  St.  John  without  the  theology  of 
St.  John.  But  can  we  retain  the  ethics  of  St.  John 
without  the  theology  of  St.  John — in  one  word, 
without  the  Divinity  of  Jesus  Christ?  That  is  the 
question.  That,  as  Mr.  Gladstone  says  in  his  re- 
view, is   "  the  real  hinge  of  the  whole  question." 

7 


9S  Social  Christianity. 

It  may  appear  to  be  possible  to  separate  the  ethics 
of  Christianity  from  its  doctrines  when  we  think 
of  such  a  man  in  our  own  day  as  Professor  Green, 
and  of  such  a  man  in  a  recent  age  as  the  devout 
Unitarian  Channing.  But  both  of  these  Christ-like 
men  were  unconscious  Christians,  who  really  be- 
lieved a  great  deal  more  than  they  distinctly  for- 
mulated. They  believed  in  God  the  Father  as  He 
is  revealed  in  Christ,  and  as  He  can  be  known 
only  in  Christ.  Robert  Elsmere,  in  his  first  address 
to  the  working  men  in  the  East  End  of  London, 
states  that  he  "  places  his  whole  trust,  for  life  and 
death,  in  God  the  Father  Almighty."  Now,  no 
one  but  a  Christian  at  heart  ever  did  that.  The 
Fatherhood  of  God  was  never  clearly  revealed 
until  Christ  came;  and  is  never  properly  realized 
now,  except  by  Christians. 

The  theological  position  eloquently  and  passion- 
ately advocated  by  Mrs.  Ward  is  quite  untenable. 
It  is  an  impossible  compromise.  Squire  Wend- 
over,  who  is  a  wide-awake  and  thorough-going 
sceptic,  says  truly  to  Elsmere  :  "  You  are  playing 
into  the  hands  of  the  Blacks."  By  "  the  Blacks  " 
he  means  the  parsons.  "  All  this  theistic  philo- 
sophy of  yours  only  means  so  much  grist  to  their 
mill  in  the  end."  The  shrewd  old  cynic  was  quite 
right.  Mrs.  Ward  goes  either  too  far  or  not  far 
enough.     She  believes  too  much  or  too  little.     It 


"Robert  Elsmere  "  and  J\Ir.  Gladstone.  99 


is  impossible  for  the  human  intellect  to  stop  long 
at  that  point.  It  will  either  advance  to  Christianity 
or  recede  to  Agnosticism.  Mr.  Grey  taught  that 
"  God,  consciousness,  and  duty  arc  the  only 
realities."  But  those  who  accept  the  principles 
and  tendencies  of  modern  scepticism  make  quite 
as  short  work  of  this  triad  as  of  the  Trinity.  Els- 
mere expresses  his  mind  in  slightly  different  terms. 
He  declares  his  belief  in  "  God,  love,  and  the  soul." 
But  Renan  has  already  degraded  "  love "  into 
animal  lust,  and  as  for  the  "  soul,"  what  sceptic 
tolerates  its  existence  for  a  moment  ?  All  these 
things  are  logically  and  absolutely  rejected  by  the 
consistent  disciples  of  the  sceptical  school.  But 
Mrs.  Ward  and  those  whom  she  represents  may 
say,  as  Professor  Green  said  :  We  are  conscious  of 
the  ultimate  realities  which  we  assert.  "  Ah,"  we 
reply,  "  if  subjective  consciousness  is  to  be  given 
a  hearing,  we  also  claim  to  be  heard.  We  are  as 
conscious  of  Christ  as  you  are  of  God,  of  love,  and 
of  duty.  But  Squire  Wendover  and  all  his  friends 
will  tolerate  neither  your  consciousness  nor  ours." 

It  is  a  remarkable  fact,  as  Mr.  Gladstone  points 
out,  that  ever  since  the  fourth  century  the  Christian 
conception  of  Christ  has  been  absolutely  unchanged. 
Amid  all  our  controversies  and  schisms  we  have 
never  doubted  or  disputed  the  claims  of  Christ. 
To-day,  if  you  were  to   shut  up  in   a  room    the 


ioo  Social  Christianity, 


Archbishop  of  Canterbury,  Mr.  Spurgeon,  Cardinal 
Manning,  General  Booth,  the  Chairman  of  the 
Congregational  Union,  and  the  President  of  the 
Methodist  Conference,  and  tell  them  that  they 
must  remain  there  until  they  were  all  agreed  in  a 
common  definition  of  the  claims  of  Christ,  they 
would  not  be  detained  for  five  minutes.  Differing 
on  ten  thousand  points,  they  would  all  agree  here. 
The  case  is  even  stronger  than  Mr.  Gladstone's 
statement  of  it.  Although  there  were  serious 
differences  of  opinion  until  the  days  of  Athanasius, 
as  to  the  exact  definition  of  our  Lord's  nature  ;  no 
Christian  during  the  first  three  centuries  held  that 
Christ  was  simply  a  man. 

The  doctrine  of  Professor  Green  and  his  disciples 
is  absolutely  new.  Even  the  Socinians  of  a  later 
period  ascribed  something  more  than  mere  man- 
hood to  Christ.  No  Christian  Church  has  ever  yet 
accepted  the  faith  of  Robert  Elsmere.  The  at- 
tempt to  retain  the  peculiar  and  distinctive  ethical 
teaching  of  Christianity  without  the  Christ  is  as 
hopeless  as  the  attempt  to  retain  the  life  of  a  lovely 
and  fragrant  flower  after  you  have  severed  it  from 
its  root.  You  might  as  well  hope  to  bask  in  the 
sunlight  after  you  had  abolished  the  sun.  It  is 
true  that  twice  a  day  you  have  sunlight  without  a 
visible  sun,  at  dawn  and  at  sunset.  But  dawn  and 
sunset   are  short-lived.     They  herald  the  appear- 


"Robert  Elsmere"  and  Mr.   Glads  lone.    101 

ancc  and  the  disappearance  of  the  sun.  Many  a 
Hindoo  is  in  the  dawn,  some  Englishmen  are  in 
the  sunset  of  Christianity.  But  the  dawn  will 
brighten  into  day,  and  the  sunset  will  pass  into 
night.  There  is  no  lasting  daylight  except  when 
the  Sun  of  righteousness  is  above  the  horizon  of 
consciousness. 

Mr.  Gladstone  points  out  the  astounding  ease 
with  which  Elsmere  rejects  Christianity.  His  first 
perusal  of  Wendover's  book  shattered  the  fabric  of 
his  faith.  He  dismisses  calmly  and  at  once  the 
testimony  of  nineteen  centuries.  How  strikingly 
this  resembles  the  readiness  with  which  George 
Eliot  made  a  similar  sacrifice  !  She  settled  the 
whole  question  in  a  few  short  weeks,  under  the 
influence  of  a  book  so  obscure  that  scarcely  any 
one  had  ever  heard  of  it  until  her  biography  ap- 
peared. Of  course,  no  one  who  had  ever  under- 
stood Christianity,  or  whose  opinion  of  Christianity 
had  any  real  value,  could  possibly  reject  it  in  six 
weeks.  George  Eliot  never  considered  the  real 
evidence  for  Christianity.  She  rejected  a  figment 
of  her  own  brain.  Christianity  itself,  real  Christi- 
anity, she  never  knew.  The  same  statement  must 
be  made  of  Robert  Elsmere.  He  appears  before 
us  as  the  great  apostle  of  testimony  ;  and  he  calmly 
ignores  the  testimony  of  the  Christian  conscious- 
ness ! 


102  Social  Christianity 


This  is  my  main  point.  Mrs.  Humphry  Ward 
evidently  has  never  understood  the  essential  char- 
acteristic of  Christianity — that  which  differentiates 
it  from  every  other  religion  in  the  world.  Com- 
parative religion,  instead  of  injuring  Christianity, 
as  she  imagines,  has  been  of  the  greatest  service. 
Our  knowledge  of  the  Asiatic  religions  has  brought 
out  the  unique  glory  of  Christianity  as  it  has 
never  been  exhibited  before.  Sir  Monier-Williams 
says  that  the  characteristic  and  absolutely  un- 
paralleled feature  of  Christianity  is  the  living 
personal  relation  of  the  individual  Christian  to 
Christ.  But  Robert  Elsmere  never  had  the  faintest 
conception  of  that.  He  never  so  much  as  realized 
that  this  was  the  fundamental  fact  of  Scriptural 
Christianity.  When  he  put  himself  through  a 
searching  catechism,  to  discover  how  much  of 
orthodox  Christianity  he  still  retained,  he  omitted 
this  truth  altogether  from  his  catalogue.  He  be- 
lieved that  he  had  made  an  exhaustive  statement 
of  the  orthodox  view  of  Christ  when  he  stated  that 
it  included  a  belief  "  in  the  Man-God,  the  Word 
from  eternity,  in  a  wonder-working  Christ,  in  a 
risen  and  ascended  Jesus,  in  the  living  Inter- 
cessor and  Mediator  for  the  lives  of  the  doomed 
brethren." 

But  this  is  like  the  play  of  Hamlet  with  Hamlet 
left  out.     He  omits  the  essential  doctrine  without 


"Robert  Elsmere"  and  Mr.  Glad  si  one.  103 


which  everything  else  would  be  a  mockery.  He 
says  nothing,  because  he  knows  nothing,  about  the 
living  and  risen  Saviour,  now  in  the  heart  of  the 
Christian,  now  in  living  union  with  the  Christian,  as 
the  vine  and  branch  are  in  union,  and  as  the  mem- 
ber and  the  head  are  in  union.  The  conclusion 
of  the  whole  matter  is  that  Robert  Elsmere  never 
was  a  Christian  in  the  Scriptural  sense  of  the 
term.  He  had  never  entered  into  that  personal 
relation  with  Christ  which  is  the  very  essence  of 
Scriptural  Christianity.  Mr.  Gladstone  does  not 
give  as  much  prominence  as  I  have  to  this  main 
point,  but  he  does  express  it  in  the  plainest  terms 
in  the  following  remarkable  words  :  "  Christianity, 
in  the  established  Christian  sense,  is  the  presenta- 
tion to  us,  not  of  abstract  dogmas  for  acceptance, 
but  of  a  living  and  a  Divine  Person,  to  whom  we 
are  to  be  united  by  a  vital  incorporation.  It  is  the 
reunion  to  God  of  a  nature  severed  from  God  by 
sin,  and  the  process  is  one,  not  of  teaching  lessons, 
but  of  imparting  a  new  life,  with  its  ordained 
equipment  of  gifts  and  powers."  In  these  words 
Mr.  Gladstone  expresses  the  belief  and  experience 
of  all  properly-instructed  Christians  in  every  cen- 
tury of  Christian  history. 

When  the  sceptics  of  the  age  of  Augustine  asked 
that  great  man  what  they  would  gain  by  becoming 
Christians,  because  they  could  be  truthful,  chaste, 


io.*.  Social  Christianity. 


and  honest  while  they  continued  to  be  sceptics, 
Augustine  answered  that  the  very  essence  of  true 
Christianity  was  a  living  union  with  Christ,  from 
which  union  Christians  derived  a  new  life.  Those 
who  were  here  when  I  discussed  the  Christianity 
of  General  Gordon,  as  recently  disclosed  in  his 
letters  to  his  sister,  will  remember  how  emphati- 
cally the  General  insisted  that  this  living  union 
with  Christ  was  the  supreme  necessity.  Cardinal 
Newman,  in  his  "  Essay  in  aid  of  a  Grammar  of 
Assent,"  and  the  late  F.  D.  Maurice,  widely  apart 
as  they  were,  agreed  in  representing  this  living 
relation  to  Christ  as  the  heart  and  root  of  religion. 
The  effect  of  realizing  this  relation  to  Christ  is 
written  at  large  on  the  pages  of  history.  In  this 
century,  for  example,  Dr.  Chalmers  was  a  scholar, 
a  clergyman,  a  theologian,  an  orator,  a  man  of 
science,  a  leader  of  men  before  he  understood  and 
experienced  this  crowning  truth.  But  when  he 
did  understand  it,  he  was  revolutionized,  and  the 
revolution  in  his  own  heart  revolutionized  Scot- 
land. 

Precisely  the  same  thing  occurred  to  John 
Wesley  in  the  last  century.  He  was  a  devout 
and  zealous  clergyman  of  the  Established  Church, 
but  when  he  was  more  than  thirty  years  of  age 
Christ  was  revealed  in  him  as  He  had  not  been 
revealed   before,   and    from  that  day   he   became 


"Robert  Elsmere"  and  Mr.   Gladstone.  105 


another  man.  His  comparatively  unfruitful  minis- 
try became  the  most  successful  in  modern  history. 
That  new  experience  of  his  changed  the  face  of 
England,  and  filled  the  whole  world.  I,  too,  in  all 
humility,  speaking  on  behalf  of  millions  of  men 
and  women  in  all  lands,  testify  that  their  hearts 
and  my  own  have  experienced  the  Divine  change 
to  which  Augustine  and  Gordon,  and  Maurice  and 
Newman,  and  Chalmers  and  Wesley  were  never 
tired  of  referring  ;  and  yet  to  this  living  testimony 
of  the  Christians  of  every  age  Robert  Elsmere 
never  once  refers.  This  book  attacks  the  out- 
works of  Christianity  ;  it  never  so  much  as  dis- 
charges a  single  shell  at  the  citadel. 

It  is  not  a  question  of  documents.  It  is  a  ques- 
tion of  living  men  and  living  women,  who  realize 
in  their  own  souls  the  presence  of  the  Divine 
Christ.  Squire  Wendover  might  argue  for  fifty 
years,  but  his  arguments  would  never  produce 
the  slightest  impression  upon  such  Christians. 
Robert  Elsmere  abandoned  Christianity  at  once 
because  he  had  never  understood  it,  never  ex- 
perienced it,  never  realized  it  as  it  is  realized 
by  all  those  whose  Christianity  is  not  a  hope  or 
a  mental  conviction,  but  a  fact  and  a  life.  I  will 
resume  this  discussion  next  Sunday,  and  shall  be 
glad  to  answer  any  questions  or  objections  that 
may  reach  me  through  the  post. 


VIII. 

THE  PROBLEM  FOR   UNBELIEF. 


107 


Preached  in  St.  James's  Hall,  Sunday  Afternoon, 
May  201/1,  iSSS. 


1 08 


VIII. 
7 HE  PROBLEM  FOR   UNBELIEF. 

"  And   we  are   witnesses   of  these  things,    and   so  is  the  Holy 
Ghost,  whom  Cod  hath  given  to  them  that  obey  Him."— ACTS  v.  32. 

I  AM  very  glad  that  several  gentlemen  have 
accepted  the  invitation  to  write  to  me  about 
any  objections  or  difficulties  which  my  line  of 
argument  may  have  suggested  to  them.  As  we 
are  not  subject  to  any  conventional  restraints,  and 
as  the  object  of  this  Conference  is  entirely  practical, 
I  propose  to  deal  at  once  with  some  of  these  letters. 
The  first  is  from  a  gentleman  who  was  formerly 
a  tutor  and  Fellow  of  the  famous  Oxford  College 
to  which  Robert  Elsmere  belonged.  This  gentle- 
man writes  :  "  I  listened  on  Sunday  with  much 
interest  to  your  address  on  Robert  Elsmere.  Will 
you  allow  me  to  draw  attention  to  a  point  which 
you  appeared  to  overlook,  and  which  vitiates,  as 
I  think,  your  case  against  him  ?  Assuming  that, 
not  indeed  to  Christians  universally,  yet  to  an 
important  section  of  Protestant  Christianity,  the 
essence  of  the  Christian  religion  lies — as  was  well- 
known  to  Catharine  Elsmere— in  a  personal  re- 
lation between  Christ  and  the  believer,  the  truth 


no  Social  Christianity. 

and  reality  of  that  relation  is  dependent,  as  you 
doubtless  hold,  on  His  Divinity.  Further,  that 
Divinity  is  itself  bound  up  with  the  truth  of  the 
Gospel  miracles,  in  particular  with  that  of  the 
Resurrection.  If  the  Resurrection  did  not  happen, 
you  and  orthodox  Christians  generally  would 
declare  with  one  consent  'our  faith  is  vain.'  In 
other  words,  the  foundations  of  the  Christian  faith 
are  essentially  historical,  and  to  historical  criticism 
they  must  be  submitted.  Well,  it  is  the  contention 
of  Robert  Elsmere  that  before  that  criticism  the 
miraculous  story  crumbles  away,  and  the  orthodox 
Christian  faith  along  with  it.  Now,  the  soundness 
of  that  contention  (which,  of  course,  may  be  dis- 
puted on  other  grounds)  is  in  no  way  affected  by 
the  inadequacy  (if"  so  be)  of  Elsmere's  apprehen- 
sions of  what  Christian  faith  is.  For  that  faith  in 
all  its  forms  rests  at  last,  by  universal  admission, 
on  the  truth  of  certain  alleged  events,  and  if  these 
events  did  not  occur,  the  ground  is  cut  away  from 
under  it.  Whether  they  {e.g.,  the  Resurrection) 
did  occur  or  not  is,  as  I  have  said,  a  question  of 
fact  which  critical  history  alone  is  competent  to 
answer.  To  form  a  right  judgment  on  this  or  on 
any  other  historical  question  a  saving  Christian 
faith  is  not  essential,  and  other  qualities  are  ; 
namely,  historical  knowledge  and  critical  capacity. 
Strauss   and    Renan   arc    in    court   here,  and    the 


The  Problem  for   Unbelief.  1 1 1 

twenty-eight  millions  of  half-educated  mankind 
from  China  to  Peru,  to  whom  you  appeal,  are 
not." 

Now,  this  is  a  very  clear  and  able  statement  of 
the  argument  on  the  other  side.  Let  us  see  how 
far  we  agree,  and  where  the  difference  comes 
in.  We  agree  that  the  personal  relation  to  Christ 
— which  I  assert  is  the  very  essence  of  true  Chris- 
tianity— depends  upon  the  Divinity  of  Christ.  We 
agree  that  the  Divinity  of  Christ  depends  upon 
the  Resurrection  of  Christ,  and  that  if  He  did  not 
rise  from  the  dead  our  faith  is  vain,  we  are  yet  in  L 
our  sins.  We  agree  that  the  question  before  us  is 
a  question  of  fact.  Now  we  come  to  the  point  at 
issue.  My  correspondent  assumes  that  the  only 
evidence  in  favour  of  the  Resurrection  is  to  be 
found  in  certain  ancient  documents,  and  that  the 
whole  question  must  be  settled  by  discussing  the 
authenticity  and  genuineness  of  those  documents. 
I  am  ready,  when  occasion  arises,  to  discuss  the 
documentary  evidence.  On  that  point  I  will  stay 
now  only  to  remind  you  that  the  testimony  of  the 
New  Testament  to  the  fact  of  the  resurrection  is 
not  affected  at  all  by  the  discussions  about  the 
Fourth  Gospel,  or  by  any  theory  of  interpolation. 
No  one  denies  to-day  that  the  Epistles  to  the 
Romans,  the  Galatians,  and  the  Corinthians  were 
written  by  St.  Paul.     Those  four  epistles  contain 


1 1 2  Social  Christianity. 

indisputable  proof  that  St.  Paul  and  the  early 
Christians  believed  that  Jesus  had  risen  from  the 
dead.  That  is  all  we  want  the  New  Testament  to 
prove  on  this  subject.  We  have  then  to  choose 
between  the  universal  belief  of  men  who  risked 
and  forfeited  their  lives  for  their  belief,  and  the 
a  priori  assumptions  of  modern  scepticism. 

And  that  is  not  all.  The  historical  evidence  for 
the  Resurrection  includes  the  personal  testimony 
of  millions  of  Christians  in  every  century  of  the 
Christian  era,  and  of  millions  now  living.  Pro- 
fessor Huxley  complains,  in  one  of  his  delightful 
science  primers,  of  those  who  try  to  study  natural 
science  without  coming  into  living  contact  with 
Nature.  I  was  once  in  that  miserable  predicament. 
I  had  to  study  chemistry  without  experiments. 
Now  Robert  Elsmere  and  my  correspondent,  and 
all  whom  they  represent,  are  making  a  similar 
utterly  unscientific  mistake.  They  are  discussing 
Christianity  in  their  libraries  and  in  books,  far 
away  from  living  Christians.  They  think  it  is  a 
question  of  ancient  documents.  They  argue  and 
decide  without  coming  into  contact  with  living 
Christianity.  They  have  no  actual  experience  of 
what  Christianity  is  doing  at  this  very  hour  in  the 
hearts  of  men.  If  they  would  go  to  Christians 
as  different  in  many  respects  as  General  Booth 
and  Father  Ignatius,    or  Mr.    Spurgeon    and   Mr. 


The  Problem  for   Unbelief.  1 1 


Hay  Aitkcn,  or  Canon  Wilbcrforce  and  Mr. 
Moody,  these  experienced  teachers  would  tell 
them  of  multitudes  now  living'  who  had  been 
saved  by  "  the  power  of  the  resurrection."  I 
myself  have  witnessed  many  thousands  of  indis- 
putable and  lasting  moral  conversions ;  and  I  may 
add  that  these  sudden  and  complete  conversions 
are,  and  always  have  been,  peculiar  to  orthodox 
Christianity. 

Are  all  these  moral  facts  to  be  ignored  ?  Are 
men  to  ascend  in  literary  balloons,  and  far  away  in 
cloud-land  to  discuss  and  settle  the  great  contro- 
versies of  Christianity  in  the  absence  of  the  living 
witnesses  of  Christianity  ?  I  submit  that  we,  who 
are  in  conscious  fellowship  with  the  risen  Christ, 
are  a  part  of  the  historical  argument  for  the  Resur- 
rection. The  documents  cannot  be  understood  in 
our  absence,  and  yet  these  literary  gentlemen  try 
to  rule  us  out  of  court  altogether.  Take,  for  in- 
stance, the  testimony  of  my  venerable  friend,  Mr. 
Calvert,  the  apostle  of  Fiji.  He  went  to  those 
islands  half  a  century  ago,  and  found  degraded 
savages  and  cannibals.  Within  the  lifetime  of 
this  one  man,  who  is  still  among  us,  those  savage 
cannibals  have  become  in  some  respects  even  more 
civilized  than  we  are.  There  has  been  an  immense 
moral  revolution.  Science  demands  an  adequate 
cause  for  such  an  effect.     The  converts  all  declare 

S 


U4  Social  Christianity. 


with  one  voice  that  the  cause  is  the  power  of  the 
risen  Christ.  Neither  is  this  moral  power  mani- 
fested only  among  men  of  inferior  race.  Take  such 
a  notorious  case  as  that  of  the  late  Dr.  Chalmers,  one 
of  the  most  gifted  of  a  highly  intellectual  people. 
The  conversion  of  Chalmers  in  the  maturity  of  his 
powers  changed  the  face  of  modern  Scotland.  Dr. 
Chalmers  has  a  right  to  go  into  the  witness-box 
before  this  case  is  closed.  A  great  CEcumcnical 
Missionary  Conference  is  about  to  be  held  in  Lon- 
don. Men  are  coming  from  all  parts  of  the  world 
to  testify  that  within  the  last  century  Christianity 
has  made  more  rapid  progress,  even  numerically, 
than  during  the  whole  of  its  previous  history. 

Our  good  friends  who  are  closeted  in  Oxford 
libraries  have  no  idea  of  what  is  going  on.  They 
imagine  that  Christianity  is  losing  its  hold  of  man- 
kind. As  a  matter  of  fact,  it  was  never  so  powerful 
as  it  is  to-day.  All  these  living  witnesses  must  be 
heard.  They  are,  as  St.  Paul  said,  the  living  epistles 
(2  Cor.  iii.  2,  3).  It  is  utterly  illogical  and  un- 
scientific to  ignore  the  "  living  epistle."  Robert 
Elsmere  imagined  it  was  a  question  of  documents, 
and  interpolations,  and  ancient  credulity.  There- 
fore, having  nothing  to  fall  back  upon,  cither  in 
his  own  experience  or  in  the  experience  of  others, 
he  yielded  to  the  first  assault  of  literary  scepticism. 
A  very  able   Unitarian  newspaper,    The  Inquirer, 


The  Problem  for   Unbelief.  1 1 5 

has  an  extended  notice  of  my  first  Conference  on 
this  subject.  I  read  The  Inquirer  every  week,  and 
am  in  hearty  sympathy  with  much  of  its  high- 
toned  Christian  teaching-.  But  on  this  point  we 
inevitably  differ.  The  Inquirer  concludes  a  kindly 
and  courteous  notice  with  the  following  words, 
which  it  evidently  thinks  will  place  me  in  a  diffi- 
culty :  "  Mr.  Hughes  declares  this  to  be  a  matter 
independent  of  documentary  evidence.  Does  he 
mean  that  if  it  can  be  shown  that  the  Gospels  are 
wholly  unreliable,  and  the  Epistles  spurious — we 
do  not  say  they  are — the  doctrine  of  a  Christ 
which  is  only  taught  on  their  authority  could  not 
be  shaken  ?  " 

In  that  question  The  Inquirer  assumes  the  point 
at  issue.  Of  course  the  doctrine  of  a  Christ  "which 
is  only  taught  on  their  authority  "  would  be  shaken. 
But  my  contention  is  that  the  doctrine  in  question 
is  not  taught  "  only  on  their  authority."  The  books 
interpret  and  explain  and  illustrate  the  Christian 
life  ;  but  the  life  itself  is  independent  of  all  docu- 
ments, and  existed  before  any  of  them  were 
written.  The  New  Testament  is  invaluable  and 
essential  in  our  controversy  with  Rome,  and  with 
all  who  accept  Christianity,  but  have,  as  we  hold, 
departed  from  its  primitive  simplicity.  But  on 
this  fundamental  question,  on  which  all  orthodox 
Christians    are    and    always    have    been    agreed, 


n6  Social  Christianity. 

we  have  other  evidence  in  the  depths  of  our  own 

souls. 

"What  we  have  felt  and  seen, 
With  confidence  we  tell." 

Surely  The  Inquirer  does  not  need  to  be  informed 
that  the  living  Church  existed  before  the  New 
Testament  was  written,  and  that  none  of  the  first 
Christians  referred  to  documents,  but  that  they  all 
testified  to  facts  of  living  personal  experience  ? 

Take  the  day  on  which  the  Church  was  born, 
the  Day  of  Pentecost,  which  we  commemorate  this 
afternoon.  Peter  and  the  rest,  arguing  with  Jews, 
quoted  the  Old  Testament ;  but  the  ground  of  their 
argument  was  their  personal  experience  of  the 
power  of  the  risen  Christ  to  save  men  from  sin. 
Listen  to  the  text  :  "  We  are  witnesses  of  these 
things,  and  so  is  the  Holy  Ghost" — the  Holy  Ghost 
speaking  in  the  depths  of  men's  souls,  and  echoing 
there  the  truths  fearlessly  proclaimed  by  the  first 
Christians.  No  man  has  ever  accepted  Christianity 
merely  or  mainly  on  documentary  or  literary  evi- 
dence ;  and  no  man  who  has  experienced  the  saving 
power  of  Christ  could  ever  reject  it  on  such  grounds 
Let  me  conclude  with  the  memorable  testimony  of 
one  of  the  most  experienced  and  sensible  men  in 
England — Dr.  Dale,  of  Birmingham.  Dr.  Dale  is 
not  a  sentimental  dreamer  or  an  ignorant  enthusiast. 
Listen  to  his  words  :  "  When  a  man  is  regenerated, 


The  Problem  for  Unbelief.  1 1 7 

he  receives  a  new  life,  and  receives  it  from  God. 
In  itself  regeneration  is  not  a  change  in  his  old  life, 
but  the  beginning  of  a  new  life,  which  is  conferred 
by  the  immediate  and  supernatural  act  of  the  Holy 
Spirit.  The  man  is  really  '  born  again.' "  Yes  ! 
and  the  man  whose  Christianity  is  not  a  theory,  or 
a  speculation,  or  a  creed,  but  a  realized  life,  is  not 
at  the  mercy  of  documentary  evidence. 


IX. 

CHRISTIANITY  NOT  A  DOCTRINE  OR  AN 
ETHICAL   SYSTEM,   BUT  A   NEW  LIFE. 


Preached  in  St.  James's  Hall,  Sunday  evening, 
December  2nd,  i  SSS. 


XI. 

CHRISTIANITY  NOT  A  DOCTRINE  OR  AN 
ETHICAL   SYSTEM,   BUT  A   NEW  LIFE. 

"  Marvel  not  that  I  said  unto  thee,  Ye  must  be  born  anew" — St. 
John  iii.  7. 

WE  cannot  too  frequently  return  to  the  funda- 
mental fact  of  Christianity.  Our  Lord 
said,  "  Marvel  not " ;  but  men  marvel  still.  Jour- 
nalists, politicians,  educationists,  even  many  minis- 
ters of  religion,  are  this  very  day  as  incredulous 
and  amazed  as  Nicodemus. 

Many  intelligent  men  begin,  like  Nicodemus, 
with  the  delusion  that  Christianity  is  a  system  of 
truth,  and  that  therefore  to  become  a  Christian 
means  simply  to  receive  certain  doctrines.  That 
was  the  first  delusion  of  Nicodemus.  He  thought 
he  had  done  all  that  could  be  desired  when  he  had 
approached  Christ  and  said  :  "  Rabbi,  we  know 
that  Thou  art  a  Teacher  come  from  God."  Un- 
doubtedly, when  he  had  said  that,  he  had  said 
something  of  enormous  significance.  It  was  a 
noble  confession.  It  expressed  a  tremendous 
change  of  opinion.  Here  was  one  of  the  greatest 
of  the  recognised  and  authorized  religious  teachers 
of  the  age — "  the  teacher,"  par  excellence,  "of  Israel" 


122  Social  Christianity. 

— accepting  the  Galilean  Peasant  as  the  promised 
Messiah  of  his  race.  In  the  teeth  of  all  his  preju- 
dices and  all  his  interests,  when  his  own  friends  and 
associates  hated  and  despised  Christ,  Nicodemus 
saluted  Him  as  a  prophet  inspired  of  God,  as  One 
whose  doctrines  must  be  accepted  as  the  doctrines 
of  the  Eternal  Himself. 

The  more  we  reflect  upon  this  confession  from 
the  lips  of  such  a  man  as  Nicodemus  the  more  are 
we  impressed  with  its  far-reaching  and  revolution- 
ary consequences.  But  mark  the  response  of  our 
Lord.  He  did  not  accept  this  splendid  tribute  as 
a  generous  and  sufficient  acknowledgment  of  His 
claims.  Far  from  it.  There  is  a  certain  coldness, 
there  is  a  certain  tone  of  lofty  rebuke,  in  the  solemn 
words  :  "  Verily,  verily,  I  say  unto  thee,  Except  a 
man  be  born  anew,  he  cannot  see  the  kingdom  of 
God."  The  mere  acknowledgment  of  Christ  as  a 
Divinely-appointed  teacher,  the  mere  acceptance 
of  His  teaching,  is  not  Christianity.  A  man  may 
utter  the  confession  of  Nicodemus  from  the  bottom 
of  his  heart,  and  yet  not  so  much  as  "see  the  king- 
dom of  God."  A  change  of  opinion,  as  I  have  ad- 
mitted, often  involves  tremendous  consequences. 
But  Christian  conversion  is  not  a  change  of  opinion. 
It  is  a  new  life. 

Mr.  Frederic  Harrison,  in  his  article  in  The 
Fortnightly^  to  which  I  have  already  referred  more 


Christianity  a  New  Life.  123 

than  once,  talks  about  giving  up  Christianity.  He 
never  gave  up  Christianity.  At  this  moment  he 
evidently  has  no  conception  of  what  real  Christians 
mean  by  real  personal  Christianity.  He  imagines 
that  Christianity  is  a  state  of  opinion  in  relation  to 
certain  difficult  and  mysterious  questions,  such  as 
the  origin  of  the  universe,  and  the  immortality  of 
the  soul.  It  is  nothing  of  the  kind.  A  man  may 
accept  what  are  regarded  as  orthodox  opinions. 
He  may  afterwards  abandon  them,  and  become  a 
Positivist,  or  an  Agnostic.  Well,  he  has  changed 
his  mind.  That  is  all.  He  never  was  a  Christian. 
Real  Christianity  is  a  vital  fact,  not  an  opinion. 
On  the  other  hand,  a  man,  as  Wesley  said  in  his 
downright  way,  may  be  as  orthodox  as  the  devil 
himself  and  as  far  from  being  a  Christian.  Correct 
views  about  Divine  truth  arc  of  unspeakable  im- 
portance, but  they  do  not  make  a  man  a  Christian. 
On  the  other  hand,  a  man  may  have  a  great  many 
erroneous  opinions  in  his  head,  and  yet  be  a  real 
Christian.  No  man  is  a  Christian  until  he  is  "born 
anew." 

Again,  outward  amendment  of  life  is  not  Chris- 
tianity. This  was  the  second  delusion  in  the  mind 
of  Nicodemus.  When  the  Master  talked  about 
being  "born  anew,"  Nicodemus  exclaimed,  "How 
can  a  man  be  born  when  he  is  old  ?  Can  he  enter 
a  second  time  into   his   mother's  womb   and    be 


124  Social  Christianity. 

born  ?  "  (v.  4).  "  Surely,"  said  Nicodemus,  in  effect, 
"  you  use  the  phrase,  '  new  birth,'  in  a  figurative 
sense  ?  You  do  not  mean  it  in  any  conceivable 
literal  sense  ? "  To  which  Christ  once  more  re- 
plied, with  even  unwonted  emphasis  and  solemnity  : 
"  Verily,  verily,  I  say  unto  thee,  except  a  man  be 
born  of  water  and  the  Spirit,  he  cannot  enter  into 
the  kingdom  of  God  "  {v.  5).  The  real  significance 
of  these  words  has  been  hidden  from  millions  of 
Christians  by  the  extraordinary  ecclesiastical  de- 
lusion that  they  refer  to  Christian  baptism.  One 
of  the  very  greatest  difficulties  in  reading  ancient 
documents  is  to  avoid  reading  into  them  modern 
meanings.  On  the  other  hand,  the  greatest  literary 
achievement  is  to  realize  the  perspective  of  history, 
and  by  the  assistance  of  an  enlightened  imagina- 
tion to  place  ourselves  at  the  standpoint  of  men 
who  lived  thousands  of  years  ago. 

There  is  one  sentence  in  the  dialogue  which 
proves  beyond  all  controversy  that  this  sentence 
cannot  possibly  refer  to  Christian  baptism.  In  the 
tenth  verse  our  Lord  rebukes  Nicodemus  for  not 
understanding  Him  :  "  Art  thou  the  teacher  of 
Israel  " — so  called,  to  lift  you  above  all  your  con- 
temporaries— and  yet  "  understandest  not  these 
things  ?  "  Now,  if  the  words  before  us  referred  to 
Christian  baptism,  it  would  have  been  very  unjust 
of  our  Lord  to  rebuke  Nicodemus  for  not  under- 


Christianity  a  New  Life.  125 

standing  what  he  could  not  possibly  understand. 
Christian  baptism  had  not  been  instituted  at  that 
time.  How,  then,  could  any  enlightened  Jew 
understand  what  had  never  been  taught  ?  We 
must  find  for  every  part  of  this  conversation  some 
meaning  which  a  man  in  the  position  of  Nicodemus 
ought  to  have  known,  and  was  to  blame  for  not 
knowing.  What  could  the  phrases  "  born  of 
water"  and  "born  of  the  Spirit"  signify  in  the 
ears  of  Nicodemus  ? 

We  have  only  to  recall  the  familiar  facts  of  that 
age  to  sec  at  once  what  they  mean.  John  the 
Baptist  was  the  most  conspicuous  and  popular 
religious  teacher  of  the  time.  Everybody  was 
talking  about  him.  The  two  most  impressive 
facts  in  his  ministry  were,  first,  that  he  baptized 
his  disciples  with  water;  and,  secondly,  that  he 
declared  One  was  coming  after  him  whose  shoe 
latchet  he  was  unworthy  to  unloose,  because  his 
great  Successor,  the  promised  Messiah,  was  to 
baptize,  not  with  water,  but  with  the  Holy  Spirit 
(Matt.  iii.  11  ;  Mark  i.  6-8  ;  Luke  iii.  15,  16;  John 
i.  19-34).  There  is  no  reason  to  doubt  that 
Nicodemus,  like  most  of  his  class,  had  become  a 
disciple  of  John.  He  was,  therefore,  already  bap- 
tized with  water.  He  had  received  the  baptism 
unto  repentance.  He  had  confessed  his  sins  and 
outwardly  amended  his  life.     You   remember  the 


126  Social  Christianity. 

blunt,  practical  advice  John  the  Baptist  gave  dif- 
ferent classes  of  persons.  He  advised  the  publicans 
to  refrain  from  extortion,  the  soldiers  to  avoid  vio- 
lence, the  multitude  to  minister  to  the  needs  of 
others  (Luke  iii.  10-14). 

Nicodemus,  like  so  many  in  our  own  day, 
thought  that  this  outward  amendment  of  life  was 
all  that  was  necessary.  Our  Lord  taught  him  in 
the  sentence  we  are  now  considering  that  it  was 
necessary  to  be  baptized  with  the  Spirit  as  well 
as  with  water.  The  baptism  of  John  is  good  as 
far  as  it  goes,  but  it  is  not  enough.  We  need  the 
baptism  of  the  Spirit  also,  the  new  life  which 
Christ  by  His  Spirit  imparts.  Take  a  modern 
illustration.  The  Temperance  Reformation  is  of 
priceless  value  as  we  saw  last  Sunday,  but  it  is 
not  enough.  When  a  drunkard  signs  the  pledge, 
there  is  a  marvellous  change.  His  home  is  trans- 
formed, his  wife  and  children  are  clothed,  he  re- 
covers his  position  in  society.  But  that  is  not 
enough  ;  he  is  not  yet  a  Christian.  He  must  re- 
ceive the  baptism  of  the  life-giving  Spirit.  He 
must  be  "  born  anew."  As  our  Lord  went  on  to 
argue,  "  That  which  is  born  of  the  flesh  is  flesh." 
Heredity  will  not  help  us  here.  We  may  have  the 
most  saintly  of  parents,  but  the  Spirit  of  God 
alone  can  give  us  that  Eternal  Life  which,  and 
which  alone,  is  true  Christianity. 


Christianity  a  New  Life.  127 

Our  Lord  admits  that  this  truth  is  enveloped  in 
mystery,  but  it  is  not  altogether  a  mystery.  It 
may  be  that  as  He  spoke  a  gust  of  wind  whistled 
through  the  narrow  street  of  Jerusalem,  and  that 
He  used  the  illustration  before  Him,  as  was  His 
wont.  In  any  case,  the  wind  furnished  Him  with 
an  exquisite  illustration.  "  The  wind  bloweth 
where  it  listeth,  and  thou  hearest  the  voice  thereof, 
but  knoweth  not  whence  it  cometh  and  whither  it 
goeth  ;  so  is  every  one  that  is  born  of  the  Spirit " 
(v.  8).  For  example,  you  cannot  tell  the  Whence 
and  the  Whither  of  the  East  wind.  You  cannot 
tell  where  it  began  to  blow  ;  whether  in  the  centre 
of  Europe,  or  in  Russia,  or  in  Asia.  Neither  can 
you  tell  "  whither  it  goeth  "  ;  whether  it  will  cease 
in  mid-Atlantic,  or  travel  right  on  to  America. 
But  you  can  tell  two  things  about  it — first,  that  it 
is  blowing,  and,  secondly,  that  it  is  blowing  in  a 
particular  direction.  In  like  manner,  you  cannot 
tell  the  Whence  and  the  Whither  of  the  work  of  the 
Spirit  in  the  heart  of  man.  You  cannot  penetrate 
to  the  first  beginnings  of  the  embryonic  Life  which 
He  creates  as  the  very  condition  of  the  New  Birth  ; 
for  only  that  which  is  already  in  some  sense  alive 
can  be  really  "born."  Neither  can  you  tell  what 
will  be  the  ultimate  evolution  of  that  New  Life, 
when  we  are  "like  Him,  and  see  Him  as  He  is." 
But  you  can  tell  when  the  New  Life  is   present. 


128  Social  Christianity. 

You  can  also  tell  the  direction  of  its  growth.  It  is 
from  selfishness  to  Christ-likeness. 

The  decisive  proof  of  the  truth  we  have  now 
reached  is  \.h.£\livingf  personal  evidence  of  those 
who  have  actually  received  and  experienced  this 
New  Life.  It  is  not  a  speculation  or  a  theory, 
but  an  accomplished  fact,  a  realized  experience. 
"  Verily,  verily,"  says  the  Great  Teacher  once  more 
in  His  most  emphatic  manner — "  Verily,  verily,  I 
say  unto  thee,  we  speak  that  we  do  know,  and 
bear  witness  of  that  we  have  seen."  (v.  n.)  He 
places  Himself  at  the  head  of  all  the  living  wit- 
nesses on  behalf  of  Christianity,  and  speaks  in  the 
name  of  all.  There  is  only  one  difference  between 
Him  and  them.  That  Eternal  Life  which  He  and 
they  have  in  common  is  His  absolutely  and  theirs 
derivatively;  His  essentially,  theirs  only  so  long  as 
they  abide  in  Him,  like  branches  in  the  living  vine. 
Otherwise,  their  life  and  His  are  one.  St.  Paul  is 
not  using  figurative  language,  he  is  expressing  an 
actual  psychological  fact  in  the  precise  language  of 
science,  when  he  says,  "  I  live,  and  yet  no  longer 
I,  but  Christ  liveth  in  me."  This  fact,  it  is  already 
admitted,  is  in  some  respects  as  untraceable,  as 
mysterious  as  the  blowing  of  the  wind.  But  it  is  pre- 
sented to  all  men  as  a  fact  of  personal  experience. 

The  decisive  evidence  of  Christianity  is  not  the 
New  Testament.     Christianity  existed  before  the 


Christianity  a   New  Life.  129 

New  Testament  was  written.  The  evidence  we 
produce  for  your  inspection  is  not  something  that 
happened  two  thousand  years  ago.  It  is  what  is 
now  taking  place  under  your  very  eyes.  Our  wit- 
nesses are  living  men.  Let  Dr.  Dale,  for  example, 
step  into  the  witness-box.  Dr  Dale  is  one  of 
the  sanest  and  shrewdest  of  men.  tie  has  had  a 
large  experience  of  men  and  things,  and  is  the 
exact  opposite  of  a  sentimental  fanatic.  What 
does  he  say  of  regeneration,  or  the  New  Birth, 
which  so  much  astonished  Nicodemus?  He  says 
that 

The  simplest  and  most  obvious  account  of  regeneration,  is 
the  truest.  When  a  man  is  regenerated  he  receives  a  new  life, 
and  receives  it  from  God.  In  itself  regeneration  is  not  a 
change  in  his  old  life,  but  the  beginning  of  a  new  life,  which 
is  conferred  by  the  immediate  and  supernatural  act  of  the 
Holy  Spirit.  The  man  is  really  "  born  again."  A  higher 
nature  comes  to  him  than  that  which  he  inherited  from  his 
human  parents;  "he  is  begotten  of  God,"'  "born  of  the 
Spirit.1' 

Yesterday  I  was  reading  an  intensely  interesting 
little  book  sent  to  me  by  my  friend,  Rev.  Thomas 
Guttery.  It  was  his  admirable  biographical  sketch 
of  William  Clowes.  You  have  probably  never 
heard  of  William  Clowes  ?  You  seldom  00  hear 
of  the  greatest  benefactors  of  mankind  until  they 
have  been  buried  for  about  a  hundred  years 
William  Clowes  had  a  larger  share  than  any  other 

9 


130  Social  Christianity. 

man  in  creating,  under  God,  the  Primitive  Metho- 
dist Church ;  that  remarkable  communion  which 
already  numbers  more  than  1,000  travelling  preach- 
ers, more  than  5,000  places  of  worship,  nearly 
200,000  Church  members,  and  above  400,000  Sun- 
day scholars.  How  did  this  dissolute  and  miser- 
able man  become  an  apostle  of  Christ?  He  went 
to  a  Methodist  prayer-meeting.  Let  his  own 
words  describe  what  took  place  : — 

The  meeting  was  what  some  would  term  a  noisy  one,  but 
I  was  not  affected  on  that  account  ;  I  felt  I  had  enough  to 
do  for  myself.  The  power  of  heaven  come  down  upon  me, 
and  I  cried  for  help  to  Him  who  is  mighty  to  save.  It  was 
towards  the  close  of  the  meeting  when  I  felt  my  bands  break- 
ing ;  and  when  this  change  was  taking  place,  I  thought  with- 
in myself,  What  is  this?  This,  I  said, is  what  the  Methodists 
mean  by  being  converted.  Yes,  this  is  it — God  is  converting 
my  soul.  In  an  agony  of  prayer  I  believed  God  would  save 
me — then  I  believed  He  was  saving  me — then  I  believed  He 
had  saved  me,  and  it  was  so.  I  did  not  praise  God  aloud  at 
the  moment  of  my  deliverance  ;  but  I  was  fully  persuaded 
that  God  had  wrought  the  glorious  work — that  I  was  justified 
by  faith,  and  had  peace  with  God  through  Jesus  Christ. 
Accordingly,  when  the  meeting  was  concluded,  some  one 
asked  me  how  I  was  going  on.  I  instantly  replied,  "  God 
has  pardoned  all  my  sins."  All  the  people  then  fell  upon 
their  knees  and  returned  thanks  to  God  for  my  deliverance. 
Thus  sorrow,  which  had  continued  for  a  night,  passed  away, 
and  joy  came  in  the  morning.  This  memorable  occasion, 
on  which  I  entered,  as  it  were,  on  a  new  period  of  existence, 
and  began  to  live  a  new  life,  occurred  on  the  morning  of 
January  20th, 1805. 

Every  true  Christian  has  experienced  a  similar 


Christianity  a  New  Life.  131 

"  new  life."  It  may  not  have  come  so  suddenly. 
He  may  not  be  able  to  state  as  precisely  when  and 
where  he  was  "born  anew."  But  "If  any  man  is 
in  Christ,  he  is  a  new  creature.  The  old  things 
are  passed  away ;  behold  they  are  become  new  " 
(2  Cor.  v.  17).  I  myself,  also — blessed  be  God ! — am 
a  living  witness  of  these  things.  I  take  my  stand 
beside  William  Clowes,  and  Dr.  Dale,  and  all  the 
real  Christians  of  every  age  and  of  every  land. 
We  differ  on  a  thousand  points  of  doctrine  and 
Church  government,  but  on  this  vital  point  we  are 
agreed.  This  is  the  sum  and  substance  of  the 
good  news  from  God — "  that  God  gave  unto  us 
eternal  life,  and  this  life  is  in  His  Son.  He  that 
hath  the  Son  hath  the  life ;  he  that  hath  not  the 
Son  of  God  hath  not  the  life  "  (1  John  v.  II,  12). 
Mark  the  exact  words  of  the  great  theologian. 
"  He  that  hath  the  Son  " — not  he  that  believes  the 
Son  is  a  prophet  of  God,  or  he  that  accepts  the 
ethical  system  of  the  Son — "he  that  hath  the  Son  ;' 
— he  that  is  in  vital  union  with  "  the  second  Adam" 
— hath  the  life.  Other  men  have  bodily  life  and 
mental  life ;  but  that  Divine  life  which  manifests 
itself  in  the  knowledge  and  love  of  the  eternal 
Father  is  the  exclusive  possession  of  those  who 
"have"  and  "abide  in"  the  Son.  That  eternal 
life — in  comparison  with  which  all  else  is  death — 
that  eternal  life  is  offered  to  you,  and  to  all  men. 


132  Social  Christianity. 

as  an  absolutely  free  gift.  The  everlasting  love  of 
God  implores  you  to  receive  it.  If  you  are 
willing,  it  may  be  yours — here,  now !  While  I  am 
yet  speaking,  you  may  live  in  Christ. 


X. 

NATIONAL   CHARACTER  DETERMINED 
BY  THE  NATIONAL    LAWS. 


tj3 


Preached  in  St.  James  s  Hall,  Sunday  Aftci  iiock 
December  iSt/i,  1SS7. 


'34 


X. 


NATIONAL    CHARACTER  DETERMINED 
BY  THE  NATIONAL   LAWS. 

"  Behold,  I  hare  taught  you  statutes  and  judgements,  even  as  the 
Lord  my  God  commanded  me,  that  ye  should  do  so  in  the  land  whither 
ye  go  in  to  possess  it.  Keep  there/ore  and  do  them  ;  for  this  is  your 
wisdom  and  your  understanding  in  the  sight  of  the  peoples,  which 
shall  hear  all  these  statutes,  and  say,  Surely  this  great  nation  is  a  wise 
and  understanding  people.  For  what  great  nation  is  there,  that  hath 
a  god  so  nigh  unto  them,  as  the  Lord  our  God  is  whensoever  we  call 
upon  Himi  And  what  great  nation  is  there  that  hath  statutes  and 
htdgements  so  righteous  as  all  this  law,  which  L  set  before  you  this 
day?"— Dkut.  iv.  5-S. 


I 


N  this  passage  Moses  teaches  us  that  the  real 
condition  of  national  greatness  is  to  be  found  in 
the  character  of  our  laws.  There  are  some  foolish 
persons  who  think  that  the  greatness  of  a  nation 
depends  upon  the  extent  of  territory  over  which  its 
authority  spreads  ;  and  we  are  sometimes  in  danger 
of  boasting  that  the  sun  never  sets  upon  the  British 
Empire,  and  that  the  beat  of  the  morning  drum  of 
the  British  Army  never  ceases  to  rattle  round  the 
world.  I  am  not  sure  that  this  is  so  much  to  boast 
about,  when  I  remember  by  what  means  we  have 
acquired  this  world-empire.  At  any  rate,  I  en- 
tirely repudiate  the  notion  that  the  greatness  of  a 

135 


136  Social  Christianity. 

country  is  in  any  degree  measured  by  the  amount 
of  territory  over  which  its  authority  extends.  The 
two  greatest  nations  of  antiquity,  so  far  as  their 
subsequent  influence  upon  human  affairs  is  con- 
cerned, were  the  Jews  and  the  Greeks,  and  they 
both  belonged  to  little  countries  like  Wales.  There 
is  no  greater  delusion  than  to  suppose  that  national 
greatness  depends  upon  geography. 

id  the  second  place,  there  are  some  who,  with 
better  reasons,  argue  that  national  greatness  de- 
pends upon  high  culture.  To  some  extent  it  does, 
and  we  are  therefore  in  the  habit  of  giving  Greece 
a  great  place  in  human  history,  on  account  of  the 
culture  of  Greece.  And  yet,  for  the  highest  influence 
at  this  moment,  even  Greece  herself  must  yield  to 
the  claims  of  Palestine.  There  is  something  better 
even  than  the  lofty  culture  of  Athens,  and  that  is 
the  Ten  Commandments  which  I  read  to  you  as 
the  lesson  to-day.  Then,  again,  there  are  others — 
too  many,  I  fear  ;  some  even  in  this  audience — who 
are  in  danger  of  supposing  that  the  greatness  of  a 
country  is  determined  by  victory  on  battle-fields. 
I  never  felt  more  miserable,  or  more  indignant,  or 
more  disgusted  in  my  life  than  when  I  went  to 
Versailles  this  year  to  see  the  great  palace  of  the 
kings  of  France— dedicated,  as  they  said,  "  to  the 
glories  of  France."  I  found  that  there  were  twenty 
miles  of  pictures.     I  did  not  walk  all  the  twenty 


National  Character.  137 

miles,  but  I  walked  a  good  many  of  them,  and  I 
was  wading  through  bloo'd  all  the  time.  Blood  ! 
blood !  blood  !  everywhere.  I  was  horrified  when 
I  saw  the  youths  and  maidens  of  France  walking 
through  these  crowded  buildings,  and  every  picture 
suggesting  to  them  the  accursed  idea  that  the  true 
glory  of  France  was  to  be  found  in  killing  people. 
Not  a  single  picture  representing  peace  did  I  see. 
I  do  not  deny  that  there  may  be  circumstances  in 
which  a  defensive  war  is  justified  ;  but  to  suggest 
that  the  great  glory  of  any  country  is  to  be  found 
on  fields  of  blood  is  to  indicate  that  you  have  sunk 
to  the  lowest  depths  of  barbarism. 

In  the  ever-memorable  passage  before  us  Moses 
claims  that  his  people  were  great,  not  because  they 
ever  had  vast  territory,  or  high  culture,  or  great 
military  triumphs,  but  because  they  had  laws  in 
harmony  with  the  will  of  God.  Oh,  that  we  may, 
by  the  help  of  Christ,  cast  out  of  our  hearts  the 
base  greed  of  empire  and  the  base  greed  of  gold. 
The  Scriptural  test  is  the  only  rational  test  of  the 
greatness  of  any  country  under  heaven.  It  is  this: 
What  kind  of  laws  have  you  in  that  country  ?  The 
national  character  determines,  and  is  determined 
by,  the  laws  of  a  country  ;  just  as  the  national 
conduct  is  expressed  in  the  policy  of  a  country. 
All  wise  Christians  desire  national  religion,  desire 
that  the  nation,  as  well  as  the  individual,  should 


138  Social  Christianity. 

be  Christian ;  but  how  will  you  secure  national 
religion  ?  I  suppose  nobody  in  the  present  day 
believes  that  you  can  secure  national  religion  by 
laying  hold  of  some  particular  sect,  or  of  all  sects, 
and  establishing  them  and  endowing  them  with 
money.  You  have  only  to  look  at  France  at  this 
moment.  Would  any  one  in  his  senses  say  that 
France  was  a  Christian  country,  though,  as  a  matter 
of  fact,  every  religion  in  France  is  endowed  by  the 
State  ?  But  how  is  it  that  the  men  at  the  head  of 
affairs,  many  of  whom,  for  reasons  into  which  I  need 
not  enter  nowr,  hate  Christianity  with  a  bitter 
hatred,  are  amongst  the  warmest  supporters  of  the 
measures  by  which  all  the  sects  are  endowed  ? 
Because  they  believe  that  is  the  way  to  lay  their 
hands  on  the  different  sects,  to  keep  them  down, 
and  to  prevent  them  from  exercising  influence 
objectionable  to  the  people  in  authority.  France 
proves  that  you  can  never  have  national  religion 
by  that  means.  St.  John  says,  "  He  that  doeth 
righteousness  is  righteous,"  and  the  only  Christian 
nation  is  the  nation  with  a  Christian  statute-book, 
a  Christian  foreign  policy,  and  a  Christian  home 
policy.  Neither  this  nor  any  other  country  has 
ever  been  a  really  Christian  country.  There  have 
been  moments  when  we  have  risen  to  the  level  of 
Christ's  teaching,  and  no  doubt  public  life  is  being 
more  and  more  leavened  by  the  leaven  of  Christ  ; 


National  Character.  139 

but  let  us  never  admit  that  this  is  yet  a  Christian 
country. 

The  world  has  yet  to  see  what  a  Christian 
country  is.  We  have  scarcely  attained  even  to  the 
Jewish  level.  I  have  read  to-day  the  Ten  Com- 
mandments, given  to  the  Jews  at  the  time  when 
they  were  lower  in  the  moral  scale  than  we  are. 
But  our  policy  as  a  nation  has  never  attained  even 
to  the  Ten  Commandments.  We  have  been  guilty 
of  stealing  the  property  of  other  nations,  of  murder- 
ing innocent  men  in  unnecessary  wars,  and  even  of 
enforcing  Acts  by  which  we  made  provision  for  the 
lusts  of  the  flesh.  Oh!  how  fearfully  possible  it  is 
for  the  nation,  as  well  as  the  individual,  to  draw 
near  to  God  with  the  lips  while  the  heart  is  far 
from  Him.  The  real  character  of  every  nation  is 
determined  by  the  character  of  its  laws.  In  that 
scale  we  must  weigh  all. 

But  before  we  apply  that  test  to  the  statute-book 
of  our  own  country,  let  us  examine  a  delusion 
which  lies  on  the  very  threshold.  How  constantly 
we  hear  it  said  that  "  you  cannot  make  men 
moral  by  Act  of  Parliament."  I  never  heard  any- 
body say  that,  except  when  he  was  trying  in  some 
way  to  hinder  the  kingdom  of  God.  When  men 
try  to  prevent  the  advance  of  the  temperance 
movement  and  other  great  moral  enterprises,  they 
are  very  fond   of  rattling  off  that  sentence.     It  is 


140  Social  Christianity. 

supposed  to  be  a  reply  to  moral  fanatics ;  that  is  to 
say,  to  sober  and  wise  patriots.  When  men  glibly 
tell  us  that  we  cannot  make  people  moral  by  Act 
of  Parliament,  I  should  like  to  know  what  they 
mean.  They  probably  do  not  know  themselves. 
Do  they  mean  that  force  in  itself  is  no  remedy  ? 
If  so,  let  them  live  up  to  their  convictions.  But 
let  us  not  forget  that  a  law  is  a  good  deal  more 
than  force.  An  Act  of  Parliament  is  not  mere 
force.  It  is  educational.  It  teaches  the  conscience, 
it  strengthens  the  conscience,  and  even  the  most 
degraded  usually  realize  that  what  is  illegal  is 
wrong. 

At  any  rate,  whether  you  can  make  men  moral 
by  Act  of  Parliament  or  not,  it  is  quite  certain  that 
you  can  make  them  immoral.  Behold  the  liquor 
traffic  as  it  now  exists,  created  and  stimulated  by 
many  Acts  of  Parliament — the  supreme  curse  of 
our  country  !  Think  of  the  Contagious  Diseases 
Acts,  which  for  so  many  years  dragged  some  of 
our  military  centres  to  the  very  verge  of  hell.  And, 
on  the  other  hand,  as  proving  that  men  may  in 
another  sense  be  made  moral  by  Act  of  Parliament 
or  by  Law,  look  at  the  Jews,  who  when  the  Law 
of  Moses  was  given  to  them  were,  in  many  respects, 
amongst  the  most  degraded  people  in  the  world, 
but  they  gradually  rose  through  the  influence  of 
this   Law  to  what   was  comparatively,  in  ancient 


National  Character.  141 

times,  a  high  condition  of  morality.  After  all, 
what  is  law  but  public  opinion  made  definite  and 
enforced  ? 

The  statute-book,  be  it  ever  remembered,  is  the 
national  conscience,  just  as  the  executive  Govern- 
ment is  the  national  will ;  and  how  extremely 
important  it  is  to  purify  the  national  conscience! 
If  any  further  evidence  is  needed  that  the  favourite 
expression  that  "you  cannot  make  men  moral  by 
Act  of  Parliament "  is  a  falsehood,  I  need  only  refer 
you  to  that  ever-memorable  monument  of  the 
beneficent  life  of  the  late  Lord  Shaftesbury — the 
Factory  Acts.  The  Factory  Acts  !  Why,  they 
have  created  a  moral  revolution  in  the  "  Black- 
Country."  In  many  parts  of  England  women  and 
children  were  degraded  beyond  expression  ;  and 
because  the  national  conscience  embodied  these 
protective  Acts  in  the  statute-book  of  this  country, 
the  whole  moral  condition  of  vast  masses  of  the 
people  has  been  entirely  changed.  Let  us,  then, 
for  ever  dismiss  from  our  minds  the  delusion  that 
you  cannot  make  people  moral  by  Act  of  Parlia- 
ment. The  morality  of  this  nation,  as  a  whole,  is 
immeasurably  influenced  by  the  character  of  the 
Acts  of  Parliament. 

There  is  another  common  delusion  I  should  like 
to  name.  You  often  find  the  opponents  of  pro- 
gressive  and   moral  legislation  saying  that  "you 


142  Social  Christianity. 

must  not  legislate  in  advance  of  public  opinion." 
Now,  whenever  that  plausible  and  dangerous  senti- 
ment is  used  for  the  purpose  of  diluting  your 
enthusiasm  and  discouraging  your  zeal  for  human 
happiness,  be  careful  to  cross-examine  the  man 
who  utters  it.  Ask  him  what  he  means  by  public 
opinion.  Does  he  mean  the  public  opinion  of  the 
House  of  Commons?  If  so,  tell  him  it  is  our  great 
privilege  to  pass  Acts  of  Parliament  very  much  in 
advance  of  the  opinion  of  the  House  of  Commons. 
Does  he  mean  the  opinion  of  Society,  or  of  the 
West-End  clubs,  or  of  the  editors  of  the  London 
journals?  If  so,  we  can  only  say,  as  a  matter  of 
fact,  that  all  these  exponents  of  public  opinion  have 
resisted  some  of  the  most  beneficent  Acts  of  our 
time,  but  they  have  been  defeated  by  the  power  of 
Jesus  Christ.  You  cannot  pass  Acts  in  advance  of 
public  opinion  !  Let  me  give  you  a  striking  proof 
that  we  have  done  so. 

Some  years  ago  laws  were  passed  for  the  pur- 
pose of  putting  down  prize-fighting.  I  myself 
remember  Lord  Palmerston,  in  the  height  of  his 
power  as  the  representative  of  a  kind  of  jovial 
English  Jingoism,  getting  up  in  the  House  of 
Commons,  defending  prize-fighting,  and  declaring 
deliberately  that  it  developed  the  manly  qualities 
of  the  English  race ;  but  we  passed  an  Act  of 
Parliament  which  put  down  prize-fighting  in  spite 


National  Character.  14; 


of  Lord  Palmerston.  A  man  has  lately  come  to 
this  country  from  America.  If  he  were  merely  a 
boxer,  I  should  not  have  anything  to  say  about 
him.  Boxing  is  a  very  different  thing  from  prize- 
fighting. My  friend,  Mr.  Reaney,  when  he  was 
here  last  Sunday,  spoke  favourably  of  boxing.  I 
am  not  speaking  now  against  the  use  of  your  fists, 
for  example,  in  the  defence  of  outraged  woman- 
hood or  childhood.  But  prize-fighting  !  base  and 
brutal  beyond  all  expression.  For  the  mere  pur- 
pose of  making  money,  a  man  degrades  himself 
below  the  level  of  the  beasts  of  the  field.  And 
yet  that  prize-fighter  appeared  in  this  very  Hall 
a  few  weeks  ago,  and  persons  of  high  rank  gave 
him  an  enthusiastic  welcome.  Still  the  law  of  this 
country  is  so  entirely  opposed  to  such  brutality, 
that  this  prize-fighter  and  all  his  "  backers  "  are 
obliged  to  sneak  out  of  England  in  order  to  fight. 
You  cannot  have  more  startling  evidence  than 
this  of  the  fact  that  law  may  be  very  much  in 
advance  of  what  is  generally  supposed  to  be 
public  opinion. 

I  have  sitting  near  me  now  Mr.  Benjamin 
Waugh,  who  is  a  living  illustration  of  the  fact 
that  public  opinion  is  in  advance  of  the  opinion  of 
both  Houses  of  Parliament.  Last  year  Mr.  Waugh 
secured  a  revolutionary  change  in  the  law  of 
England — a    change  which    was    opposed  by   the 


144  Social  Christianity. 

great    leaders    of    both    political    parties.      Only 
twelve  months  ago  it  was  impossible    in  criminal 
cases  to  take  the  evidence  of  any  witness  who  was 
not  old  enough  to  understand  the  nature  of  an 
oath.     The  result  was  that  if  some  human  devil 
outraged   a   child    too   young  to   understand   the 
nature  of  an  oath,  he  escaped  scot-free.    This  man 
(Mr.   Waugh),   moved  by  the  Spirit  of  God,  said 
that  was  outrageous.     The  great  leaders  of  both 
political  parties  said  it  was  impossible  to  alter  the 
law,  but  this  extreme  man    thought  nothing  was 
impossible  that  was  right.      He  proceeded  to  both 
Houses  of  Parliament  and  button-holed  the  mem- 
bers.    Aided  by  the  influence  of  Mr.  W.  T.  Stead, 
such  was  the  force  of  the  public  opinion,  not  of 
the  supposed  leaders  of  public  opinion,  but  of  the 
new  electorate,  of  the  masses  of  the  people,  that  in 
one  week  Mr.  Benjamin  Waugh  effected  that  glori- 
ous change  in  the  law  of  England,  whereby  the 
evidence  of  witnesses  not  old  enough   to   under- 
stand the  nature  of  an  oath  is  now  taken  in  cases 
of  outrage  upon  the  young.     Since  this  law  was 
passed  I  believe  that  fifty  of  those  scoundrels,  who 
criminally  assault  children  of  tender  years,  have 
been  put  in  prison  for  long  terms  of  penal  servi- 
tude.    And  there  are  many  other  similar  changes 
in   the   law   of  this  country   which    may   yet   be 
enforced  when  a  few  more  men  have  faith  in  God, 


National  Character.  145 


and  when  their  hearts  are  full  of  sympathy  for  the 
poor,  the  weak,  and  the  suffering. 

The  one  deadly  charge  I  have  to  bring  against 
the  law  of  England  to-day  is  this,  that  crimes 
against  the  person  are  regarded  as  almost  trivial 
in  comparison  with  crimes  against  property. 
The  Northern  farmer  in  Tennyson's  well-known 
poem  heard  his  horse,  as  it  trotted  along,  always 
saying,  "  Property,  property,  property  !  "  and  you 
find  the  same  sound  running  through  the  English 
law  from  beginning  to  end.  There  is  the  greatest 
possible  care  for  property,  to  which  we  do  not 
object,  for  God  says,  "  Thou  shalt  not  steal  "  ;  but 
there  is  the  most  terrible  neglect  of  that  which  is 
of  immeasurably  greater  importance — the  sacred 
personal  rights  of  every  man,  woman  and  child, 
whether  rich  or  poor.  Let  me  just  contrast  for 
a  few  minutes  one  or  two  cases.  The  extracts 
I  read  are  taken  from  the  third  edition  of  a  book 
called  "  Social  Wreckage,"  written  by  Mr.  Peek, 
and  published  by  Isbistcr.  Let  everybody  who 
loves  God  get  this  book,  and  compare  the  differ- 
ence in  English  law  between  offences  against  the 
person  and  offences  against  property.  A  man, 
named  O'Neil,  was  charged  in  one  of  our  London 
courts  with  kicking  his  step-daughter — his  treat- 
ment of  her  resulting  in  the  partial  paralysis  of 
one  leg— was  sentenced  to  four  months'  imprison- 

10 


146  Social  Christianity. 

ment.  On  the  other  hand,  Eliza  Ralph,  who 
pleaded  guilty  at  the  Middlesex  Sessions  to  steal- 
ing a  sheet  and  some  other  articles,  was  sentenced, 
not  to  four  months'  imprisonment,  but  to  seven 
years'  penal  servitude.  That  is  the  difference 
between  the  value  of  a  little  girl  of  fifteen  and  the 
value  of  a  sheet.  A  woman,  named  Harley,  was 
sentenced  at  Woolwich,  to  imprisonment  for  one 
month,  for  abusing  a  child  a  few  months  old  ; 
while  at  Clerkenwell  a  child  of  ten,  who  stole  a 
lock  valued  at  4^.,  had  twenty-one  days'  hard 
labour.  Again,  a  man  was  charged  with  throwing 
his  wife  down  a  flight  of  twenty-four  stairs,  and 
was  fined  20s.,  or  ten  days'  hard  labour ;  while 
a  decent-looking  woman,  described  as  a  seamstress, 
who  stole  some  cotton,  was  sentenced  to  six 
months'  hard  labour,  without  the  option  of  a  fine. 

Two  men,  who  were  charged  with  killing  a  per- 
son from  whom  they  had  received  no  provocation, 
were  sentenced  to  twelve  months'  hard  labour. 
At  the  Surrey  Sessions,  a  man  who  killed  r.obody, 
but  received  half  a  crown,  knowing  it  to  be  stolen, 
was  sentenced,  not  to  twelve  months',  but  to  four- 
teen years'  penal  servitude.  So  it  appears  that 
according  to  English  law  it  is  fourteen  times  as 
dreadful  to  receive  a  stolen  half-crown  as  to  kill 
a  man  who  has  not  provoked  you.  Just  one  other 
illustration.      Richard  Manning  was  convicted  at 


National  Character.  147 

Southwark  of  cruelly  ill-treating  his  wife  imme- 
diately after  she  had  been  delivered  of  a  child. 
She,  at  the  peril  of  her  life,  crawled  along  the  floor 
of  her  room  and  got  on  to  the  stairs  to  escape 
from  him.  This  man  was  sentenced  to  four 
months'  hard  labour.  About  the  same  time  a 
man  was  brought  before  another  court,  charged 
with  stealing  five  silver  spoons.  The  man,  Man- 
ning, who,  under  such  dreadful  circumstances,  nearly 
killed  his  wife,  was  sentenced  to  four  months'  hard 
labour :  the  man  who  stole  the  five  silver  spoons 
was  sent  to  penal  servitude  for  seven  years  ! 

Now  the  inevitable  result  of  this  diabolical  in- 
equality in  the  law  is  to  produce  the  kind  of 
savagery  which  is  encouraged  by  the  men  who  call 
a  prize-fighter  a  fine  fellow.  "  The  rank  is  but  the 
guinea  stamp."  We  must  defend  men,  women, 
and  children  at  all  hazards.  When  I  think  of  the 
law  of  England,  so  severe  on  those  who  steal  and 
so  lenient  to  those  guilty  of  the  most  awful  atro- 
cities even  to  their  own  wives  and  children,  I  re- 
member that  Jesus  Christ,  the  Son  of  God,  was 
a  man  who  had  no  property  at  all.  "  He  had  not 
where  to  lay  His  head  "  ;  by  which  fact  He  would 
teach  us  that  "  a  man's  life  consisteth  not  in  the 
abundance  of  the  things  which  he  possesseth." 

The  teaching  of  the  New  Testament  is  that  man 
as   man    is    immeasurably  greater    than    rank   or 


148  Social  Christianity. 

wealth  can  ever  make  him.  We  have  a  great 
responsibility  in  this  matter.  We  must  see  that 
such  changes  are  effected  in  our  English  law  as 
will  extend  to  human  beings  the  same  protection 
that  is  now  given  to  their  property.  I  am  again, 
in  closing,  reminded  of  my  friend  Mr.  Waugh.  If 
the  law  bears  hardly  against  men,  it  bears  more 
hardly  against  women,  and  most  hardly  of  all 
against  children.  The  law-makers  of  this  country 
seem  to  have  made  very  light  of  the  most  deadly 
outrages  against  women  and  children.  A  Society 
has  now  been  formed,  of  which  my  friend  Mr. 
Waugh  is  secretary,  for  the  prevention  of  cruelty 
to  children.  By  caring  for  the  children  we  are 
going  to  the  very  root  of  the  mischief.  If  we  wish 
our  country  to  be  truly  great,  there  is  no  better 
way  in  which  we  can  secure  its  greatness  than 
by  seeing  that  the  Law  of  England,  in  the  better 
days  that  are  coming,  shall  give  the  same  absolute 
protection  to  the  poorest  child  in  the  land  that  it 
crives  to  the  Oucen  herself. 


XL 

THE  ADMINISTRATION  OF  JUSTICE 


Preached  in  St.  James's  Hall,  Sunday  Aftci  neon, 
January  "jth,  iSSS. 


XI. 

THE  ADMINISTRATION  OT  JUSTICE. 

"And  I  will  restore  thy  judges  as  at  the  first,  and  thy  counsellors  as 
at  the  beginning:  afterward  thou  shalt  be  called  The  city  of  righteous- 
ness, the  faithful  city.  Zion  shall  be  redeemed  with  judgement,  and 
her  converts  with  righteousness.'1'' — IsAIAII  i.  26,  27. 

HERE  Isaiah  promises  to  the  people  of  Israel, 
as  a  crowning  blessing  of  their  national 
life,  the  appointment  of  just  and  righteous  judges. 
Speaking  of  the  administration  of  justice,  from  the 
Christian  point  of  view,  two  or  three  Sundays  ago, 
I  brought  under  your  notice  a  fearful  defect  which 
runs  all  through  the  statute  law  of  England.  It 
was  this :  that  the  Law  of  England  still  attaches 
much  more  terrible  penalties  to  crimes  against  the 
rights  of  property  than  to  crimes  against  personal 
rights  ;  and,  consequently,  so  far  as  the  English 
Law  instructs  the  people— and  it  is  almost  the 
only  religious'  instructor  the  masses  of  the  people 
liave — it  is  a  much  more  dreadful  thing  for  a  man 
to  steal  a  few  loaves  of  bread,  when  starving,  than 
to  dance  on  the  head  of  his  wife  and  nearly  kill 
her.  I  brought  before  you  many  instances  where 
theft  of  a  comparatively  trivial  character  was  pun- 


152  Social  Christianity. 

ished  by  a  long  term  of  penal  servitude,  whereas 
the  most  horrible  outrages  against  women  and 
children  were  followed  only  by  a  few  months' 
imprisonment  I  insisted  that  it  was  one  of  the 
highest  duties  of  Christian  citizens  to  secure  that 
the  sacred  rights  of  every  human  being,  however 
poor — or,  I  would  add,  however  wicked — should 
be  as  sacredly  guarded  by  the  Law  of  England  as 
the  rights  of  property. 

I  do  not  want  in  the  slightest  degree  to  weaken 
the  sanction  which  has  been  given  by  the  rulers 
of  the  past  to  the  law,  "  Thou  shalt  not  steal ; " 
but  I  confess  that  I  do  desire  that  the  Law  of 
England  should  give  equal  sanction  to  the  law, 
"  Thou  shalt  not  commit  adultery."  There  was 
a  barrister  in  the  audience  on  that  occasion,  who 
wrote  a  letter  to  Mr.  Percy  Bunting,  which  he  was 
good  enough  to  show  me.  This  gentleman,  while 
not  disputing  the  general  truth  of  my  criticism 
with  respect  to  the  one-sided  character  of  the 
English  Law,  thought  I  ought  to  have  mentioned 
the  fact  that  the  length  of  these  relative  sentences 
was  determined,  not  only  by  the  Statute  Law  it- 
self, but  by  the  discretion  of  the  judges  ;  and  that 
if  the  judges  of  England  had  the  same  high  sense 
of  the  sacred  rights  of  the  individual  as  Christ 
had,  it  would  be  well  within  their  power  to  make 
the  administration  of  justice,  even  now,  very  much 


The  Administration  of  Justice.       153 

more  equal  than  it  is.  I  fully  admit  the  correct- 
ness of  that  criticism  :  but  the  limit  of  time  com- 
pelled me  to  confine  myself  on  that  occasion  to 
the  Law  itself;  reserving  a  discussion  of  the  ad- 
ministration of  justice  for  this  Conference. 

There  can  be  no  doubt  that  the  Law,  in  its  one- 
sidedncss,  reflects  the  current  opinion  of  the  ruling 
classes  of  the  past.  They  were  very  sensitive  with 
respect  to  the  rights  of  property  ;  but  I  am  bound 
to  say  they  were  not  equally  sensitive  with  respect 
to  personal  rights.  I  believe  the  new  electorate 
of  this  country  will  be  equally  sensitive  on  that 
point ;  and  without  in  any  way  interfering  with 
the  rights  of  property,  or  with  the  sanction  that 
prohibits  theft,  the  day  is  at  hand  when  the  Law 
of  England  will  exhibit  a  much  greater  regard 
for  the  personal  rights  of  every  man,  every  woman, 
and  every  child.  It  is  not  unnatural  that  the 
prevalent  neglect  of  personal  rights  should  be,  to 
some  extent,  exhibited  in  the  sentences,  as  well 
as  in  the  letter,  of  the  law.  Nearly  everything  I 
have  to  say  this  afternoon  is  taken  from  a  book 
entitled  "  Social  Wreckage,"  which  I  wish  every- 
body would  read.  It  is  written  by  Mr.  Peek,  a 
well-known  member  of  the  London  School  Board, 
and  a  prominent  philanthropist.  I  was  very 
glad  to  see  that  my  gifted  friend,  Dr.  Clifford,  in 
publishing  a  list  of  books  upon  social  Christianity, 


154  Social  Christianity. 

which  all  enlightened  Christians  ought  to  read, 
mentions  Mr.  Peek's  book  first.  I  would  strongly 
urge  everybody  to  read  the  books  Dr.  Clifford 
names  in  his  list.  Mr.  Peek  in  this  book  commits 
himself  deliberately  to  the  opinion  that  the  mis- 
carriage of  justice  is  on  the  increase  in  this 
country — a  very  startling  thing  for  a  man  to  say 
in  the  closing  years  of  the  nineteenth  century. 

Mr.  Peek  uses  words  which  I  should  not  venture 
to  use  myself,  but  which,  uttered  by  one  so  capable 
of  giving  an  opinion,  I  do  not  hesitate  to  quote. 
He  says :  "  It  seems  as  if  the  sentences  passed 
frequently  depended  upon  the  temper  and  health 
of  the  judge  at  the  time,"  by  which  I  presume  he 
means  that  some  of  our  judges  sometimes  give 
very  much  severer  sentences  than  on  other  occa- 
sions. To  some  limited  extent  that  is  inevitable. 
The  judges  are  human  beings.  It  is  obvious  that 
we  must  give  the  judges  some  discretion.  You 
cannot  alter  the  law  to  the  extent  of  determining 
the  precise  length  of  the  sentence  that  ought  to 
follow  the  verdict  of  a  jury.  At  the  same  time,  it 
is  well  that  the  discretion  of  judges  should  be  re- 
strained within  very  severe  limits.  Further,  and 
yet  more  importantly,  it  is  very  desirable  that  the 
administration  even  of  judges  should  be  subject  to 
the  constant  influence  of  enlightened  Christian 
opinion.     There  has  been  a  great  deal  of  irrational 


The  Administration  of  Justice.      155 

superstition  about  judges,  as  there  was  in  the 
Middle  Ages  about  the  clergy.  At  one  time  no 
one  was  allowed  to  criticise  ministers  of  religion. 
That  is  no  longer  the  case.  We  are  now  criticised 
very  freely  indeed.  But  I  do  not  think  much  harm 
is  done  by  that  criticism.  I  do  not  suggest  that 
judges  should  be  critcised  quite  as  freely ;  because, 
after  all,  it  is  of  the  gravest  importance  to  maintain 
the  dignity  and  the  authority  of  those  who  repre- 
sent the  justice  of  the  country.  I  have  as  keen  a 
sense  of  that  as  any  man  has.  A  judge  not  only 
represents  the  Queen,  but,  so  far  as  he  is  a  minister 
of  Justice,  he  represents  God  Himself.  We  ought, 
therefore,  to  clothe  his  office  with  the  utmost 
sacredness.  I  hold  that  the  office  of  judge  is  as 
sacred  as  my  own.  How  extremely  important  it 
is  that  all  judges  should  realize  that  themselves  ; 
and  should  be  scrupulously  careful  never  to  do 
anything  that  comes  into  collision  with  the  Chris- 
tian conscience! 

We  cannot  prevent  men  from  criticising  the  action 
of  judges.  Therefore,  it  is  best  that  they  should  be 
judged  by  Christian  men.  This  is  an  age  of  free 
discussion  and  criticism  of  everybody,  high  and 
low.  It  is,  consequently,  more  necessary  than  ever 
that  such  evils  as  those  to  which  Mr.  Peek  refers 
should  be  respectfully  and  carefully  pointed  out. 
It  is  useless  for  us  to  shut  our  eyes  to  the  fact  that 


1 56  Social  Christianity. 


the  way  in  which  judges  are  appointed  in  this 
country  is  not  one  that  always  secures  the  high 
end  which  Christian  citizens  have  in  view.  It  is  a 
notorious  fact  that  the  appointment  to  this  great 
and  prized  office  is  generally  the  reward  of  political 
service.  Now,  I  have  no  insuperable  objection  to 
a  man  who  has  rendered  service  to  his  political 
party,  being  appointed  a  judge.  At  the  same  time, 
every  one  must  feel  that  there  is  a  great  weakness 
in  that  arrangement ;  and  that  it  would  be  an 
immense  national  advantage  if  we  could  separate 
the  appointment  of  judges  altogether  from  every 
consideration  of  party  politics  ;  and  if  judges  could 
be  lifted  entirely  above  the  atmosphere  of  political 
strife.  If  there  is  this  inevitable  weakness  at  the 
very  point  at  which  a  man  is  elected  to  the  bench, 
it  is  the  more  important  that  the  whole  of  his 
subsequent  career  should  be  entirely  free  from 
political  taint. 

Mr.  Peek,  in  his  book,  goes  on  to  deal  with  those 
questions  which  must  be  considered  if  justice  is  to 
be  maintained  ;  and  if  those  who  adminster  justice 
are  to  secure  the  respect  of  the  masses  of  the 
people.  You  and  I,  from  religious  conviction, 
would  always  respect  those  who  administer  justice; 
and  therefore,  if  there  are  obvious  defects  in  the 
administration  of  justice,  we,  as  the  best  friends  of 
justice,  are  bound  to  point   them  out.     Mr.  Peck 


The  Administration  of  Justice.       157 


says  that  of  late  years  there  has  been  a  great 
increase  in  the  bullying  of  witnesses;  that  barristers 
pleading  in  our  courts  have  assumed  a  licence  in 
cross-examination  which  was  never  permitted 
before ;  and  that  this  is  partly  due  to  the  fact  that 
judges  have  entirely  abandoned  the  habit  of  re- 
straining the  licence  of  cross-examining  counsel ; 
and  not  only  so,  but  they  have  entirely  abandoned 
the  habit  which  once  existed  of  commiting  wit- 
nesses for  perjury,  where  it  was  evident  a  man  was 
lying.  As  judges  have  withdrawn  their  restraint, 
Mr.  Peek  believes  that  barristers  have  been  led  to 
be  more  relentless  in  trying  to  extort  the  truth  by 
the  fiercest  sort  of  examination.  I  myself  have 
known  truthful  and  honest  persons  with  nothing 
to  conceal  ;  who,  however,  being  nervous,  have 
shrunk  exceedingly  from  going  into  a  court  of 
justice  to  give  evidence,  on  account  of  the  furious 
and  relentless  cross-examination  to  which  they 
would  be  subjected. 

There  is  another  great  evil  which  Mr.  Peek 
mentions,  namely,  that  the  State  throws  the  burden 
of  setting  the  law  in  operation  upon  private  citizens, 
however  poor  they  are,  and  however  unable  to 
vindicate  their  sacred  rights.  It  is  true  that  we 
have  a  public  prosecutor  ;  but  it  is  already  evident 
that  the  creation  of  this  office  has  not  accomplished 
the  object  it  intended.     We  are  told  that  it  would 


158  Social  Christianity. 

cost  millions  a  year  to  vindicate  the  rights  of  all. 
But  surely  it  would  be  much  better  to  spend  our 
money  in  this  way  than  in  shameful  wars.  Let 
there  be  as  much  readiness  in  spending  money  to 
secure  justice  for  all,  as  in  promoting  war.  In  the 
absence  of  a  proper  public  prosecutor  the  gravest 
offenders  sometimes  go  "  scot-free,"  because  those 
whom  they  have  wronged  are  too  poor  to  bring 
them  to  justice. 

With  respect  to  civil  cases,  what  is  sometimes 
called  "the  glorious  uncertainty  of  the  law,"  is  a 
very  great  scandal  and  disgrace  to  this  country. 
The  immense  cost  of  obtaining  justice  in  civil  cases 
is  another  gigantic  evil — a  cost  so  enormous  that 
many  persons  are  obliged  to  submit  to  arbitration; 
and,  too  often,  the  poorer  persons  concerned  in 
these  cases  never  have  justice  at  all.  At  the 
root  of  this  evil  lies  the  long  delay  that  takes  place 
in  the  administration  of  justice.  It  is  a  notorious 
fact  that  in  London  a  great  many  cases  are  settled 
in  the  most  unsatisfactory  way,  simply  because 
suitors  cannot  wait  until  their  cases  come  on.  I 
suppose  that  at  the  bottom  of  this  evil  lies  the  Long 
Vacation.  I  am  at  a  loss  to  understand  why  there 
should  be  a  Long  Vacation.  If  the  doctors  of 
London  were  to  have  a  Long  Vacation,  if  for  five 
months  there  was  not  a  single  medical  man  in  the 
metropolis,  what  would  happen  ?     Our  doctors,  I 


1  he  Administration  of  Justice.       159 

am  sure,  work  harder  than  our  judges.  I  presume 
that  the  only  reason  for  the  Long  Vacation  is  that 
the  judges  should  have  a  rest.  That  is  a  mere 
question  of  appointing  more  judges,  while  the  weary 
ones  are  enjoying  their  repose.  All  Governments 
are  ready  to  spend  millions  in  war  :  it  is  of  the 
greatest  importance  that  they  should  be  compelled 
to  spend  millions  in  the  greater  victories  of  peace. 
A  few  distinguished  men  at  the  head  of  the  Bar 
would  be  unable  to  take  all  the  best  briefs  if  cases 
went  on  all  the  year  round  ;  but  I  do  not  think 
this  is  a  good  reason  for  refusing  justice  to  the 
masses  of  the  people.  There  are  plenty  of  other 
barristers  ready  and  able  to  take  these  briefs.  It 
is  a  national  disgrace  that  there  should  be  such  a 
fearful  delay  in  the  administration  of  justice. 

Then,  again,  the  excessive  secrecy  which  now  en- 
velopes the  administration  of  our  prisons  is  a  point 
that  deserves  the  attention  of  intelligent  Christian 
men.  You  are  aware  there  was  a  great  revolution 
in  the  administration  of  the  prisons  of  this  country 
when  they  were  taken  out  of  the  hands  of  the  local 
justices,  and  placed  under  the  control  of  the  imperial 
Government.  All  centralisation  is  very  dangerous, 
and  it  should  be  understood  that  the  magisterial 
oversight  that  remains  is  merely  nominal.  Atten- 
tion was  called  in  The  Times  newspaper  a  few 
weeks  ago  to  the  great  necessity  for  the  voluntary 


too  Social  Christianity. 


visitation  of  female  prisoners  by  judicious  ladies  in 
each  locality  where  a  prison  is  situated.  There  is 
the  greatest  difficulty  in  gaining  admission  to  our 
convict  prisons.  If  Elizabeth  Fry  herself  rose  from 
the  dead  to-day,  and  wanted  to  minister  to  her 
sisters  in  prison,  the  door  would  be  slammed  in  her 
face.  Jesus  Christ  said:  "I  was  in  prison  and  ye. 
visited  Me  not."  Those  to  whom  He  said  that 
had  no  excuse  to  make  ;  but  if  it  was  addressed  to 
us,  we  should  be  able  to  say,  "  The  authorities  would 
not  allow  us." 

The  mere  official  administrations  of  the  prison 
chaplain  are  not  always  sufficent.  Sometimes  the 
prison  chaplain  is  all  you  could  desire  ;  but,  in  any 
case,  female  prisoners  ought  to  be  visited  by 
Christian  women.  I  can  conceive  no  nobler  office 
for  a  woman  than  that.  The  evils  which  I  have 
now  named,  evils  which  go  to  the  very  heart  and 
root  of  social  wrong,  are  grossly  neglected  by 
party  politicians.  So  you  and  I,  who  are  not  party 
politicians,  must  create  such  a  public  opinion  as 
will  compel  these  party  politicians  to  do  their  duty. 
If  every  Christian  minister  took  up  themes  of  this 
kind,  we  should  soon  secure  the  true  well-being 
of  the  English  people.  Another  point  on  which 
everybody  is  agreed  is  that  the  vicious  classification 
of  prisoners  in  convict  establishments  is  doing  the 
greatest    mischief.       Mr.    Peek   tells  us   that   the 


The  Administration  of  Justice.      161 

minimum  term  of  penal  servitude  is  five  years,  and 
that  this  is  reduceable  in  cases  of  good  conduct  by- 
nine  months.  But  after  the  first  nine  months  of 
solitary  confinement,  all  men  committed  for  penal 
servitude  are  mixed  indiscriminately  with  the  most 
degraded  jail-birds.  The  result  is  that  the  three 
or  four  years  they  spend  in  a  convict  establishment 
often  become  a  school  in  which  they  are  taught 
evils  of  which  they  had  no  conception  before.  It 
is  simply  shocking  that  those  who  go  to  prison  for 
the  first  time  should  be  exposed  to  influences  of 
this  sort. 

There  is  only  one  other  point  to  which  I  must 
refer  to-day,  and  that  is  the  way  in  which  laws 
relating  to  women  are  administered.  We  owe 
very  much  to  Mr.  W.  T.  Stead  and  Mr.  Benjamin 
Waugh  for  the  glorious  achievements  of  last  year. 
To  show  the  animus  which  influences  some  of 
those  who  administer  the  law,  it  is  only  neces- 
sary to  mention  the  notorious  fact  that  at  least 
one  judge  has  actually  gone  out  of  his  way  to 
criticise  and  condemn  those  blessed  legislative  im- 
provements. Lord  Chief  Justice  Coleridge — thank 
God,  we  have  a  Christian  man  at  the  very  head 
of  our  judicial  bench  ! — took  the  opportunity  of 
publicly  rebuking  those  who  dared,  on  the  seat 
of  justice,  to  criticise  the  laws  which  they  were 
appointed  to  administer.     It  is  a  pretty  state  of 


l62 


Social  Christianity 


things  when  the  Lord  Chief  Justice  has  to  teach 
his  brother  judges  that  they  are  not  our  masters, 
but  our  servants— our  honoured  and  distinguished 
servants,  to  whom  we  pay  all  respect ;  but  still  our 
public  servants,  who  are  put  on  the  bench  not 
for  the  purpose  of  criticising  the  law  demanded  by 
the  Christian  conscience  of  England,  by  the  Queen 
and  by  Parliament,  but  to  carry  it  out  with  the 
utmost  vigour  and  impartiality. 

We  should  regard  with  the  greatest  concern  the 
constant  and  dangerous  encroachments  of  the  Eng- 
lish judges.  The  way  in  which  cases  are  with- 
drawn from  the  juries,  the  way  in  which  judges 
dictate  to  the  jury  what  the  nature  of  their  verdict 
shall  be,  are  things  that  Christian  men  ought  to 
consider.  I  have  studied  verdicts  and  judgments 
for  years,  and  my  blood  has  often  boiled  within 
me  when  I  have  noticed  the  fearful  leniency  with 
which  crimes  against  women  are  treated,  and  the 
yet  more  fearful  severity  with  which  the  crimes  of 
poor  women  are  punished.  There  was  a  case  the 
other  day  of  a  poor  starving  girl  who  left  her  child 
behind  her,  in  the  hope  that  some  one  would  take 
it,  and  thus  save  them  both,  perhaps,  from  death. 
For  this  offence  she  was  sent  to  penal  servitude 
for  five  years.  On  the  other  hand,  I  read  to  you 
two  or  three  Sundays  ago  the  cases  of  men  who,  for 
nearly  murdering  their  wives,  received  only  three 


The  Administration  of  Justice.       16 


j 


or  four  months'  imprisonment.  I  realize  more  and 
more  that  it  is  as  absolutely  necessary  that  we 
should  have  pure  judges  on  the  seat  of  justice  as 
it  is  that  we  should  have  pure  Members  of  Parlia- 
ment. I  am  not  bringing  any  charge  against  the 
judges  as  a  class.  But  it  is  a  notorious  fact  that 
there  have  been  some  judges,  as  there  have  been 
some  Members  of  Parliament,  who  were  not  pure 
men.  A  judge  died  a  few  years  ago  in  a  house  of 
infamy.  A  lady  from  a  provincial  city  told  me 
last  week  that  she  had  occasion  to  go  into  a  house 
of  illfame  in  order  to  save  a  girl  ;  and  she  saw 
there  one  of  the  most  prominent  magistrates  of 
that  city. 

Now,  whether  a  man  is  a  judge  of  assize  or 
the  magistrate  of  a  police  court,  he  ought  to  be 
personally  pure.  If  he  is  not  pure,  he  is  absolutely 
incapable  of  administering  justice.  For  my  part, 
I  am  very  glad  that  some  women  are  studying  the 
law.  I  believe  there  are  one  or  two  ladies  practis- 
ing as  chamber  barristers  in  this  city;  and,  eccentric 
as  I  may  be  regarded,  I  believe  the  time  will  come 
when  we  shall  have,  at  least,  a  few  women  sitting 
on  the  seat  of  justice.  I  cannot  trust  a  judge  and 
jury — all  of  them  men,  and  all  of  them  corrupted 
by  ages  of  false  sentiment — to  be  judges  of  Social 
Purity  in  relation  to  women  and  girls.  I  hope  the 
time  will  come  when  women  will  be  appointed  as 


104  Social  Christianity. 

the  administrators  of  justice  to  women  and  little 
girls. 

Once  more,  the  notorious  Langworthy  case  has 
proved  that  there  are  some  cases  where  even  judges 
with  the  utmost  desire  to  do  justice  are  unable  to 
succeed  until  they  are  supported  by  an  enlightened 
Christian  opinion.  I  know,  therefore,  no  duty  that 
is  more  noble  or  more  urgent  than  that  of  en- 
deavouring, by  the  help  of  God,  to  create  such 
a  state  of  enlightened  Christian  opinion  that  we 
may  always  have  pure  judges  and  Divine  Justice 
on  the  judgment  seat  of  British  Law, 


xir. 

OUR  DUTY  IN  RELATION  TO    THE 

LICENSING    CLAUSES   OF  THE  LOCAL 

GOVERNMENT  BILL. 


Preached  in  St.  James's  Hall  Sunday  Afternoon., 
April 'St A,  iSSS. 


XII. 


OUR   DUTY  IN  RELATION  TO    THE 

LICENSING    CLAUSES  OF  THE  LOCAL 

GOVERNMENT  BILL} 

"  The  righteous  taheth  knowledge  of  the  cause  of  the  foor:  the 
wicked  hath  not  understanding  to  know  it." — Prov.  xxix.  7. 

THIS  noble  sentence  gives  us  an  unexpected 
but  unerring  test  of  Scriptural  goodness.  If 
a  man  contemplates  public  questions  with  a  due 
and  tender  regard  to  the  rights  and  interests  of 
the  poor,  he  is  "  righteous."  If,  on  the  other  hand, 
he  ignores,  or  lightly  regards  "  the  cause  of  the 
poor,"  he  is,  in  the  judgment  of  the  Book  of  God, 
"  wicked."  It  is  from  the  point  of  view  of  the  poor 
that  Christian  citizens  must  contemplate  the  pro- 
posals of  the  ministry  in  relation  to  the  liquor 
trade.  If  there  is  one  subject  more  than  another 
upon  which  the  followers  of  Jesus  Christ  are 
bound  to  speak   out,  it  is   the  liquor  trade.     It  is 


1  A  great  outburst  of  Public  Opinion  compelled  the  with- 
drawal  of    the    compensation  clauses.     But    as   a  similar 

proposal  may  be  revived  at  any  time,  the  argument  of  this 
sermon  is  still  needed. 

167 


1 68  Social  Christianity, 


the  greatest  of  all  existing  hindrances  to  the  pro- 
gress of  the  Gospel  in  England.  I  do  not  question 
the  good  intentions  of  ministers,  but  the  more  I 
contemplate  the  licensing  clauses  of  the  Local 
Government  Bill,  the  more  am  I  alarmed  and 
distressed. 

There  is  one  feature  of  the  proposals  now  before 
the  country  to  which  very  little  public  attention 
has  been  directed,  but  which  may  hereafter,  prove 
most  disastrous.  The  Chancellor  of  the  Ex- 
chequer has  made  the  licence  revenue  the  sheet- 
anchor  of  county  finance.  He  transfers  to  the 
County  Council  the  publicans'  and  grocers'  licences, 
amounting  to £1,378,143  a  year;  the  spirit-dealers' 
licences,  amounting  to  £83,800  a  year;  and  the 
wine-dealers'  licences,  amounting  to  £43,000. 
Henceforth  it  will  be  the  direct,  palpable,  and 
urgent  interest  of  every  ratepayer  to  prevent  the 
suppression  of  any  one  of  these  licences.  Each 
suppressed  licence  means  so  much  loss  to  the  local 
revenue,  and  so  much  addition  to  his  own  rate. 
When  it  is  remembered  how  hard  it  has  proved 
even  to  get  a  halfpenny  rate  for  a  Public  Library, 
we  can  form  some  idea  of  the  immense  addition  to 
the  difficulties  of  Temperance  Reform  created  by  a 
step  which  heavily  bribes  every  ratepayer  to  keep 
up  the  licences.  But  in  the  present  political  cir- 
cumstances   of   the    country    it    will    probably    be 


The  Lice  using  Clauses.  169 

impossible  to  prevent  this  part  of  the  scheme  from 
becoming  law. 

There  is  a  gleam  of  light  amid  the  darkness 
in  the  fact  that  the  Bill  distinctly  recognises  the 
principle  of  local  option.  The  control  of  the 
licences  is  transferred  from  the  non-representative 
magistrates  to  the  County  Council.  Many  are 
throwing  up  their  caps  over  that,  but  I  fear  a  care- 
ful study  of  this  elaborate  scheme  will  blight  their 
hopes.  In  the  first  place,  the  new  licensing 
authority  is  not  elected  ad  hoc,  and  the  issue  will 
be  complicated  and  confused  by  fifty  other  ques- 
tions. In  the  next  place,  the  licensing  divisions 
are  made  so  large  that  they  include  six  electoral 
districts  :  that  is  to  say,  the  representative  of  any 
particular  district  cannot  carry  out  the  wishes  of 
his  constituents  unless  he  can  command  the  votes 
of  a  majority  of  the  representatives  of  five  adjacent 
districts  who  have  no  interest  whatever  in  agreeing 
with  him  ;  who,  on  the  contrary,  are  gratuitously 
risking  their  own  seats  by  doing  so.  In  the  third 
place,  the  representative  character  of  the  licensing 
committee  is  further  diluted  by  an  infusion  of  non- 
representative  and  irresponsible  aldermen,  to  the 
extent  of  one-third  of  the  committee.  In  the 
fourth  place,  even  if  this  strangely  constituted 
licensing  board  hears  the  bitter  cry  of  one  of  the 
six    districts    it    partially    represents,    there    is    an 


170  Social  Christianity. 

appeal  from  its  decision  to  the  County  Council,  in 
which  each  particular  district  has  an  absolutely  in- 
significant numerical  representation.  As  if  all  this 
did  not  sufficiently  safeguard  the  interests  of  the 
publicans,  assurance  is  made  doubly  sure  by  a 
novel  and  unprecedented  proposal  to  compensate 
the  holder  of  every  licence  which  is  not  renewed. 
Let  any  sensible  person  weigh  the  first  four  features 
of  the  scheme  which  I  have  now  enumerated,  and 
he  will  realize  that  it  would  have  been  difficult  to 
invent  a  more  clever  method  of  taking  away  with 
the  left  hand  what  is  given  by  the  right.  But,  pro- 
bably, in  relation  to  these  features  of  the  Bill,  as 
in  relation  to  that  which  I  have  already  discussed, 
we  are  powerless.  We  must  accept  the  homoeo- 
pathic dose  of  local  option  which  is  given  to  us  ; 
and  trust  that  Go. I  will  hereafter  enable  us  to 
secure  that  the  voice  of  the  people  directly  con- 
cerned shall  be  heard,  and  shall  prevail. 

When  we  come  to  consider  the  other  principal 
proposal  of  the  licensing  clauses — the  proposal  to 
compensate  the  holders  of  unrenewed  licences,  we 
must  fairly  and  promptly  face  the  issue.  Now,  I 
am  most  anxious  to  do  full  justice  to  the  publican, 
and  more  than  justice,  so  far  as  that  is  possible 
without  injustice  to  others.  Let  us  treat  the  liquor- 
sellers  as  generously  as  possible.  Are  they  en- 
titled, cither  legally  or   morally,  to  any  financial 


The  Licensing  Clauses.  171 


compensation?  That  is  essentially  an  ethical 
question,  and  one  en  which  the  Christian  pulpit 
should  speak  frankly. 

Let  me  explain  one  point.  No  one  proposes  to 
suppress  any  existing  licence  until  the  term  for 
which  it  was  granted  expires.  The  question,  there- 
fore, is  whether  the  holder  of  any  liquor  licence 
has  a  legal  or  equitable  claim  to  its  renewal  when 
it  has  run  out.  On  the  legal  side  of  this  question, 
eminent  judges  have  in  recent  years  given  decisions 
of  the  most  unambiguous  character.  Mr.  Justice 
Stephen,  in  18S2,  said:  "  The  legislature  says,  when 
we  talk  of  a  renewal  of  a  licence  we  do  not  mean 
that,  but  we  mean  a  new  licence  granted  to  a  man 
who  had  one  before."  Again,  Lord  Chief  Justice 
Cockburn  said,  in  1878  :  "According  to  the  Act  of 
1828,  the  justices  had  the  same  discretion  to  refuse 
a  renewal  as  they  had  to  refuse  a  grant  of  a  new 
licence."  Mr.  Justice  Field  said,  in  1882:  "In 
every  case  in  every  year  there  is  a  new  licence 
granted.  You  may  call  it  renewal,  if  you  like  ;  but 
that  docs  not  make  the  licence  an  old  one.  The 
Legislature  does  not  call  it  a  renewal.  The  Legis- 
lature is  not  capable  of  calling  a  new  thing  an  old 
one.  The  Legislature  recognises  no  vested  right 
at  all  in  any  holder  of  a  licence.  It  docs  not  treat 
the  interest  as  a  vested  one  in  any  way."  Once 
more,   Mr.    Baon    Pollock  said,   in    18S4:    "The 


Social  Christianity, 


notion  that  there  is  a  property  of  the  landlord  in  a 
licence  cannot  be  considered  as  sound  law."  Here, 
then,  we  have  the  emphatic  legal  decisions  of  the 
most  eminent  judges.  The  matter  does  not  admit 
of  debate.  Both  Lord  Cross  and  Sir  William 
Harcourt,  when  holding  the  office  of  Home  Secre- 
tary, echoed  the  statements  of  the  judges.  Even 
the  late  Mr.  Thomas  Nash,  counsel  to  the  Licensed 
Victuallers'  Association,  frankly  and  fully  ad- 
mitted, in  a  public  letter  to  The  Morning  Adver- 
tiser, in  1883,  that  "  there  cannot  be  the  smallest 
doubt  that,  in  the  strict  sense,  no  such  thing  as  a 
vested  interest  exists." 

This  indisputable  statement  is  confirmed  by 
the  entire  course  of  recent  legislation.  Take  for 
instance,  the  Sunday  Closing  Acts.  In  1853 
Parliament  closed  all  the  public-houses  in  Scot- 
land on  Sunday.  That  at  once  reduced  the  annual 
consumption  of  spirits  to  the  extent  of  1,250,000 
gallons.  Subsequent  legislation  has  enforced  Sun- 
day closing  in  Ireland  and  Wales.  Parliament 
has,  therefore,  deprived  the  licence-holder  of  one- 
seventh  of  his  time,  and  a  good  deal  more  than 
one-seventh  of  his  profit,  without  the  slightest 
compensation.  Again,  in  1869,  Sir  H.  Sehvyn- 
Ibbetson  passed  a  Bill  which  raised  the  rental 
qualification  of  beer-houses.  That  closed  upwards 
of  300   beer-houses  in  Liverpool  alone.     No   one 


The  Licensing  Clauses.  173 

dreamed  of  compensating  them.  Again,  Meldon's 
Act  of  1877  raised  the  rateable  qualification  of 
Irish  beer- houses.  That  suppressed  557  licences 
in  Dublin  alone,  and,  of  course,  there  was  no  com- 
pensation. In  1S78  "The  Canada  Temperance 
Act"  passed  the  Canadian  Parliament.  That  Act 
enabled,  a  majority  of  electors  in  any  locality  in 
that  vast  Dominion  to  suppress  all  the  licences 
without  a  penny  of  compensation.  The  friends  of 
the  liquor  trade  appealed  to  Her  Majesty's  Privy 
Council,  on  the  ground  that  such  suppression  with- 
out compensation  was  unconstitutional.  Their 
appeal  was  rejected,  and  under  that  stringent  law 
thousands  of  licences  have  already  been  suppressed 
in  Canada. 

At  least  1,000  licences  are  suppressed  in  this 
country  every  year  by  the  action  of  humane  land- 
owners and  other  friends  of  the  people.  If  the 
compensation  clauses  are  passed,  this  steady  and 
blessed  process  will  for  the  future  cost  the  rate- 
payers at  least  one  million  sterling  annually  !  And 
if  there  is  to  be  anything  like  a  wholesale  suppres- 
sion of  licences,  the  amount  of  compensation  will 
be  almost  incalculable.  The  late  Mr.  Edwards,  the 
General  Secretary  of  the  Licensed  Victuallers' 
National  Defence  League,  estimated  that  the  com- 
pensation to  which  the  trade  would  be  entitled 
would    amount  to  at   least   ,£400,000,000.      Talk 


174  Social  Christianity. 

about  hereditary  pensions,  why,  all  of  them  put 
together  would  be  a  flea-bite  in  comparison  with 
this  unparalleled  proposal.  After  straining  out 
that  gnat,  are  you  going  to  swallow  this  camel  ? 

What  conceivable  claim  to  compensation  has  a 
publican  in  equity?  His  licence  is  a  most  valu- 
able monopoly,  which  thousands  would  like  to 
share,  but  it  is  refused  to  them.  I  know  a  man 
who,  when  he  got  his  licence  for  a  mere  song, 
said  :  "This  licence  has  put  ;£  1,200  in  my  pocket." 
After  giving  him  that  sum,  will  you  "compensate  " 
him  by  giving  him  another  out  of  the  pockets  of 
the  struggling  ratepayers  ?  That  these  men  have 
no  claim  to  compensation  may  further  be  shown 
by  the  fact  that  it  would  be  perfectly  lawful  for  the 
Legislature,  if  it  thought  fit,  to  enact  Free  Trade  in 
liquor,  to  let  everybody  sell  it.  What  becomes  of 
your  compensation  then  ?  To  compensate  the 
holder  of  a  lucrative  monopoly  is  unheard  of.  But 
it  may  be  said  :  "  It  is  very  hard  to  deprive  a  man 
of  his  living  after  he  has  invested  all  his  capital  in 
the  business.  Will  you  starve  his  wife  and 
children  ?  "  Well,  in  the  first  place,  the  publican, 
like  anybody  else,  must  run  trade  risks  and  take 
the  consequences  of  speculation.  Many  men  put 
their  money  in  uncertain  enterprises,  and  lose  it.  It 
can  scarcely  be  said  that  the  publican  has  had  no 
warning.     For  forty  years  an  ever-growing  party 


The  Licensing  Clauses.  175 

has  declared  war  against  the  liquor  trade.  The 
licence-holder  can  read  on  his  licence  that  it  is 
granted  "  for  one  whole  year  and  no  longer."  Why 
should  the  publican  alone,  of  all  men,  be  protected 
against  risks  to  which  all  tradesmen  are  exposed, 
and  which  he  has  chosen  to  ignore  in  the  teeth  of 
the  decisions  of  judges,  the  statements  of  Home 
Secretaries,  the  pamphlets  of  Temperance  re- 
formers, the  confessions  of  his  own  trade  journals, 
and  the  very  terms  of  his  own  licence  ?  Further, 
as  a  matter  of  fact,  there  are  very  few  cases  of  this 
kind.  The  great  majority  of  licensed  houses  are 
"  tied  "  houses.  They  belong  to  enormously  wealthy 
brewers,  who  have  already  made  fortunes,  as  Dr. 
Johnson  said,  "beyond  the  dreams  of  avarice,"  out 
of  the  folly  and  misery  of  mankind.  They  put 
into  these  houses  of  theirs  poor  wretches  whom, 
unless  they  succeed  in  selling  a  certain  quantity 
of  their  liquor,  they  evict  without  mercy.  What 
claim  have  the  brewers  and  distillers  to  compen- 
sation ?  They  have  already  gained  incalculable 
wealth  out  of  their  unhappy  fellow-countrymen. 
Let  them  be  satisfied. 

A  friend  of  mine  wrote  to  me  last  week,  urging 
the  Temperance  party  to  accept  the  compensation 
clauses  on  the  ground  that  "  most  of  the  money  " 
will  come  out  of  the  pockets  of  the  licence-holders. 
There  never  was  a  greater  mistake. 


i  76  Social  Christianity. 

The  utmost  that  the  new  licence  duty  could  give 
in  any  one  year  is  £300,000  ;  but  the  lowest  calcu- 
lations put  the  compensation  at  £180,000,000.  If 
my  friend's  statement  were  correct,  we  should  not 
object  to  the  millionaires  in  the  liquor  trade  com- 
pensating their  less  prosperous  fellow-tradesmen. 
Indeed,  Mr.  James,  an  able  member  of  the  execu- 
tive of  the  Licensed  Victuallers'  National  Defence 
Association,  has  suggested  that  half  the  licensed 
houses  should  be  closed  ;  and  that  the  owners  of 
those  houses  should  be  compensated  by  the  other 
half,  out  of  the  increased  profits  which  their  greater 
monopoly  would  give  them.  He  estimates  the 
compensation  at  .£70,000,000.  Now,  there  can  be 
no  objection  whatever  to  so  reasonable  and  equit- 
able a  proposal.  Let  Bass,  Allsopp,  Guinness,  and 
all  their  company  pay  £70,000,000  to  their  dis- 
inherited brethren.  But  when  the  ratepayers  are 
required  by  the  Government  to  pay  the  compensa- 
tion money,  I  claim  to  be  heard  on  the  other  side. 
If  we  are  to  talk  about  compensation,  there  are 
counter  claims  which  must  be  pressed.  When  the 
licence  is  granted,  it  depreciates  the  value  of  all  the 
adjoining  property.  The  owners  of  that  property 
have  a  greater  claim  for  compensation  from  the 
publican  than  he  has  from  the  public.  Again,  at 
least  half  our  poor  and  police  rates  are  the  direct 
results    of   the  liquor   traffic.      Let   the    publicans 


The  Licensing  Clauses.  177 

compensate  the  ratepayers  for  those  rates  before 
they  look  for  any  compensation  from  the  rate- 
payers. 

Our  children  on  the  other  side  of  the  Atlantic 
have  much  more  rational  and  equitable  conceptions 
of  compensation  in  relation  to  the  liquor  trade 
than  we  have.  In  Canada,  the  wife,  guardian  of 
the  children,  or  employer  of  an  inebriate,  can  notify 
the  publican  not  to  furnish  him  with  intoxicants  ; 
and  if  the  publican  or  any  person  in  his  service 
docs  so  within  twelve  months,  the  wife  or  others 
concerned  can  recover  compensation  to  the  amount 
of  ;£ioo  from  the  publican.  Another  Act  says 
that  if  a  publican  furnishes  drink  to  an  intoxicated 
person,  and  such  person  commits  suicide,  perishes 
from  cold,  or  dies  from  accident  occasioned  by  such 
intoxication,  the  relatives  of  the  deceased  person 
may  obtain  compensation  from  the  publican  to  the 
amount  of  £200.  Another  section  of  that  admir- 
able Act  says  that  if  an  intoxicated  person  assaults 
anybody,  or  injures  any  property,  the  injured  party 
can  not  only  prosecute  the  intoxicated  person,  but 
also  recover  damages  from  the  party  who  furnished 
the  liquor.  In  several  of  the  United  States  the  pub- 
lican whose  customer  is  imprisoned  for  drunken- 
ness is  required  to  pay  daily  towards  the  support 
of  his  imprisoned  victim's  wife  until  her  husband 
is  released.     These  are  the  kinds  of  compensation 

12 


178  Social  Christianity. 

for  which  ample  provision  should  be  made  before 
we  hear  one  word  of  compensation  to  the  privi- 
leged and  wealthy  liquor  monopolists.  The  Times 
of  November  30,  1870,  summed  up  the  issue  in  a 
sentence  which  it  ought  to  repeat  now  :  "  To  put 
the  case  in  half  a  dozen  words  :  the  profits  in  which 
the  liquor-sellers  now  claim  a  vested  interest  are 
realized  to  a  vast  extent  at  the  cost  of  popular 
degradation,  vice,  and  misery ;  and  the  question  is 
simply  whether  the  Legislature  of  a  country  is  not 
justified  in  placing,  with  due  consideration,  the 
welfare  of  the  people  above  the  gains  of  a  trade." 
Surely  Christian  citizens  can  give  only  one  answer 
to  that  question.  Some  of  the  proposals  of  the 
Government  in  relation  to  the  liquor  trade  we  must 
probably  accept.  But  this  proposal  for  compensa- 
tion is  a  proposal  to  establish  the  liquor  trade  in 
England  as  it  has  never  been  established  before  ; 
and  to  endow  it  out  of  the  pockets  of  the  rate- 
payers with  endowments  far  in  excess  even  of  the 
gigantic  endowments  of  the  Established  Church. 
It  is  a  proposal  so  unprecedented,  so  unjust,  and  so 
disastrous,  that  every  good  man  should  offer  it  the 
most  determined  and  irreconcilable  opposition. 


XIII. 

THE    SECOND    GERMAN  EMPEROR, 
FREDERICK  III. 


preacheJ  in  Si.    James's  Hall,  Sunday  Afternoon, 
June  IJt/i,   iSSS. 


XIII. 

THE    SECOND    GERMAN  EMPEROR, 
FREDERICK  HI. 

"  Among  many  nations  was  there  no  king  like  him." — NEH. 
xiii.  26. 

THREE  short  months  ago  I  stood  here  to  pay 
my  humble  tribute  to  the  memory  of  the 
first  German  Emperor.  To-day  I  come  to  lament 
the  tragical  death  of  his  greater  son,  Frederick  III. 
It  was  only  during  the  last  year  that  the  world  at 
large  fully  realized  what  a  loss  was  about  to  befall 
'.he  human  race. 

The  late  Emperor  was  an  ideal  prince.  We 
may  say  of  him  what  Nehemiah  said  of  Solomon  : 
"Among  many  nations  was  there  no  king  like 
him."  Many  of  you  have  read  the  remarkable 
testimony  of  Mr.  Gladstone:  "  Of  all  the  Royal 
persons  I  have  ever  known,  he  was  the  best  and 
noblest."  I  believe  that  Frederick  III.'s  pre- 
eminence was  due  to  a  rare  and  almost  unique 
combination  of  manly  and  gentle  qualities.  It  is  too 
common  to  use  extravagant  and  even  blasphemous 
language  in  relation  to  princes  ;  but  there  is  little 

i2i 


1 82  Social  Christianity. 

danger  of  falsehood  or  flattery  when  we  speak  of 
the  late  German  Emperor.  Like  all  his  race,  he 
was  a  mighty  soldier.  In  the  wars  with  Austria 
and  with  France  he  led  great  armies  with  consum- 
mate skill  to  epoch-making  victories.  At  critical 
moments  his  courage,  his  energy,  his  promptitude 
turned  the  tide  of  war  and  changed  the  face  of 
Europe.  But — and  this  is  his  claim  to  lasting 
honour  and  love  —  he  abhorred  fields  of  blood. 
With  all  his  heart  he  loved  and  promoted  peace. 
There  is  a  strange  appropriateness  in  the  fact  that 
his  stern  father  died  amid  the  stress  and  storm  of 
winter,  in  the  midst  of  gloom,  and  hail,  and  ice. 
But  he  himself  fell  asleep  in  the  sweet  and  gentle 
springtime,  in  the  midst  of  fragrant  flowers,  and 
birds  of  song,  and  golden  sunshine.  With  all  our 
heavy  sense  of  irreparable  loss,  it  is  a  great  con- 
solation to  reflect  that  the  kind  and  humane  spirit 
of  Frederick  III.  rests  now  in  the  sunny  land, 

"  Where  everlasting  Spring  abides, 
And  never-withering  flowers." 

Gentle,  loving,  tender-hearted,  he  won  the  hearts 
of  all  who  knew  him.  It  is  touching  to  remember 
that  he  made  so  deep  an  impression  upon  those 
among  whom  he  moved ;  that  the  wounded  soldiers, 
in  the  delirium  of  their  deadly  suffering,  talked  of 
him,  and  were  happy  in  his  imagined  smile. 


The  Second  German  Emperor.       183 


Wc  all  know  that  his  home  life  was  beautiful. 
When  he  visited  this  country,  in  early  manhood,  to 
woo  the  Princess  Royal,  Prince  Albert,  in  a  letter 
to  Baron  Stockmar,  spoke  with  enthusiasm  of  the 
young  Prince's  "  integrity,  guilelessness,  and  dis- 
interestedness." There  is  something  equally  simple 
and  delightful  in  that  little  episode  of  the  sprig  of 
white  heather,  which  furnished  him  with  an  oppor- 
tunity of  winning  the  greatest  prize  that  God  can 
grant  to  mortal  man — a  gifted  and  devoted  wife. 
Amid  all  the  suffering  and  darkness  of  his  closing 
days,  we  must  not  forget  the  long  happiness  which 
sprang  from  his  union  with  one  of  the  ablest  and 
most  loving  women  of  our  time.  A  touching  evi- 
dence of  his  domestic  virtues  and  his  domestic 
happiness  is  furnished  by  the  fact  that  his  favourite 
tune  was  the  "  Wedding  March."  He  was  always 
getting  the  military  bands  to  play  the  familiar 
strains  which  reminded  him  of  the  happy  hour 
when  he  walked  out  of  St.  George's  Chapel  with 
the  Princess  Royal  on  his  arm.  When  he  returned 
to  Germany  with  his  young  bride,  Prince  Albert 
wrote  him  a  long  letter,  urging  him  to  fashion  his 
public  life  on  enlightened  and  constitutional  prin- 
ciples. He  carried  out  the  Christian  counsels  of 
his  noble  father-in-law  consistently  and  to  the  end. 
At  a  quiet  family  dinner-party  in  Buckingham 
Palace,  during  the  Jubilee  festivities,  the  Crown 


184  Social  Christianity. 

Prince  said  that  he  had  always  made  Prince  Albert 
his  model.  "Ah!"  exclaimed  the  Queen,  tears 
rushing  into  her  eyes,  ^'imitate  him  in  all  things, 
except  in  his  too  early  death."  Alas  !  in  this  also 
he  was  to  be  like  the  cherished  dead.  The  glow- 
ing language  in  which  Tennyson  enshrined  the 
memory  of  Albert  the  Good  may,  without  ex- 
aggeration, be  applied  to  Frederick  III. 

He  was  a  friend  of  peace,  of  culture,  of  art, 
and  of  science.  Even  in  the  midst  of  the  terrible 
war  with  France  he  found  time  to  organize  a 
great  national  institution  for  the  support  of  the 
sick  and  wounded.  But  many  of  us  revere  his 
memory  most  of  all  for  the  enlightened  and 
Juunane  policy  which  he  pursued  unswervingly 
through  the  whole  of  his  public  life.  He  had 
no  sympathy  with  the  autocratic  self-assertion 
of  his  father,  or  the  blood-and-iron  policy  of 
Prince  Bismarck.  In  1863  his  father  and  his 
father's  great  Minister  were  pursuing-  a  policy 
which  forced  spectators  everywhere,  to  think  of 
Charles  I.  and  Strafford.  In  that  year  they  issued 
a  decree  against  the  Press.  When  men  are  carry- 
ing out  a  despotic  policy,  they  generally  try  to 
suppress  newspapers.  At  that  crisis  Frederick, 
then  Crown  Prince,  wrote  a  letter  to  his  father 
deprecating  his  "  unconstitutional  conduct."  He 
followed  that  up  by  addressing  a  formal  protest 


The  Second  German  Emperor.       185 

to  the  Cabinet  against  a  measure  that  was  "  both 
illegal  and  injurious  to  the  State."  He  went  even 
further,  and  in  a  public  speech  at  Dantzic  clearly 
indicated  to  the  whole  world  his  rooted  aversion 
to  all  attacks  upon  free  speech  and  constitutional 
government.  The  King  of  Prussia  was  so  incensed 
at  the  attitude  of  his  son,  that  he  requested  him 
to  disavow  the  sentiments  attributed  to  him,  with 
the  alternative  of  being  recalled  from  his  high 
command.  The  Crown  Prince  nobly  refused  to 
disavow  his  sentiments,  and  offered  at  once  to 
resign  his  position  in  the  Army,  and  in  the  Council 
of  State,  adding:  "If  I  am  not  allowed  to  speak 
my  mind,  I  must  naturally  wish  to  sever  myself 
entirely  from  the  sphere  of  politics." 

It  needed  great  moral  courage  to  be  so  resolute 
and  outspoken  at  that  time,  and  in  that  exalted 
position.  But  his  conduct  in  1S63  was  in  the 
highest  degree  heroic  and  kingly,  and  gave  him 
titles  to  immortal  honour  superior  to  any  ever  won 
upon  fields  of  blood.  It  is  evident  that  the  Crown 
Prince's  protest  was  not  in  vain,  and  that  the  king 
was  ultimately  convinced  that  his  son  was  right ; 
for  at  the  close  of  the  war  with  Austria,  the  vic- 
torious monarch  sought  and  obtained,  at  the  hands 
of  his  Parliament,  a  general  indemnity  for  all  the 
unconstitutional  proceedings  which  the  Crown 
Prince  had   so  fearlessly  condemned.     When   the 


1 86  Social  Christianity. 

late  Emperor  unveiled  the  Stein  memorial,  he  gave 
another  striking  illustration  of  the  enlightened 
principles  by  which  he  was  animated,  for  he 
unhesitatingly  identified  himself  with  the  revolu- 
tionary reforms,  especially  in  the  system  of  land 
tenure,  by  which  that  great  statesman  had  laid 
the  foundations  of  the  German  Empire.  On  this 
occasion  the  Crown  Prince  pointed  out,  with  pro- 
found sagacity,  that  military  triumphs  are  the  fruit 
of  industrial  and  social  reform.  Von  Moltke  would 
have  been  impossible  if  Stein  had  not  prepared 
the  way. 

Frederick  III.  was,  of  course,  a  strong  opponent 
of  those  persecutions  of  the  Jews  which  were  so 
strangely  and  disgracefully  approved  in  certain 
influential  quarters.  He  had  an  intense  dislike 
of  autocratic  ideas,  and  sought  in  every  way  to 
liberalize  the  institutions  of  his  country.  In  one 
word,  it  was  his  fundamental  principle  to  trust  the 
people.  He  was,  therefore,  a  true  king,  worthy  of 
the  mightiest  throne  in  the  world.  It  will  always 
be  delightful  and  pathetic  to  remember  that  his 
last  public  act  was  to  appoint  a  successor  to  the 
reactionary  minister,  Herr  von  Puttkamer,  who 
was  mainly  responsible  for  a  measure  intended  to 
limit  the  authority  of  the  representatives  of  the 
people.  Frederick  III.  greatly  disliked  a  new  Act 
by  which  the  life-term  of  the  Prussian  Parliament 


The  Second  German  Emperor.       187 

was  materially  lengthened.  Despots  hate  General 
Elections,  and  like  to  appeal  to  the  people  as  seldom 
as  possible.  Frederick  III.  knew  that  no  feature 
of  Parliamentary  life  is  more  precious  or  more 
salutary  than  the  provision  which  compels  govern- 
ments at  short  intervals  to  consult  the  nation.  The 
late  Emperor  was  extremely  anxious  to  inform  his 
people  that  if  he  reluctantly  signed  the  Act  which 
made  General  Elections  less  frequent,  he  was  on 
that  account  the  more  anxious  that  when  they 
did  take  place  the  electors  should  enjoy  absolute 
freedom  of  choice,  and  that  the  illegitimate  official 
pressure  in  favour  of  Government  canditates, 
which  had  been  too  frequent  in  the  past,  should 
not  be  repeated  while  he  lived.  This  Christian 
attitude  produced  a  strained  relation  with  the 
Ministry,  and  at  last  the  minister  mainly  respon- 
sible for  the  situation  was  forced  to  resign.  In  the 
closing  hour  of  his  life,  Frederick  III.  was  officially 
engaged  in  filling  the  vacancy.  Thus,  to  his  very 
last  breath,  the  late  Emperor  used  all  his  influence 
on  behalf  of  freedom  and  constitutional  govern- 
ment. 

There  were  throughout  his  brief  reign,  and  there 
are  now,  painful  signs  that  the  German  nation  is 
perhaps  not  yet  sufficiently  civilized  to  appreciate 
so  enlightened  and  so  Christian  a  sovereign  as 
Frederick  III.     The  last  three  months  were  fore- 


1 88  Social  Christianity. 

gleams  of  a  bright  and  happy  day,  too  good  for  the 
Europe  of  the  Conscription  and  of  the  Police  des 
Mceurs.  There  are  men  who  live  after  their  time; 
but  there  are  a  few,  a  very  few,  of  the  noblest  of 
the  sons  of  God  who  live  before  their  time :  and 
in  that  select  and  exalted  group  we  must  rank 
Frederick  III.  He  would  have  been  an  ideal 
monarch  in  England,  the  mother  of  Parliaments, 
the  classic  land  of  freedom  and  of  unfettered 
industry.  We  can  imagine  no  more  perfect  model 
for  the  Prince  of  Wales  than  his  brother-in-law, 
who  modernised  and  brought  down  to  date  the 
noble  maxims  of  his  noble  father,  Albert  the  Good. 
The  time  will  come  when  all  lands  will  sigh  and 
pray  to  God  for  rulers  as  trustful  and  peaceful  and 
humane  as  Frederick  III. 

The  late  German  Emperor  was  as  enlightened 
and  Christian  in  his  foreign  as  in  his  home  policy. 
It  is  well  known  that  if  his  gentle  heart  could  have 
had  its  way,  Paris  would  never  have  been  actually 
bombarded.  When  the  terms  of  peace  were  under 
consideration,  he  was  for  once  in  happy  agreement 
with  Prince  Bismarck  in  resisting — although  on 
other  and  deeeper  grounds — the  extremely  onerous 
conditions  which  that  sagacious  Minister  saw 
would  only  sow  the  seeds  of  future  wars.  But  on 
that  occasion  the  military  party,  to  the  lasting 
injury  of  Europe,  triumphed  over  both  the  Prince 


The  Second  German  Emperor,       189 

and  the  Chancellor.  Nothing  was  nearer  to  the 
late  Emperor's  heart,  and  nothing  occupied  his 
thoughts  more  constantly,  than  the  discovery  of 
some  mutually  honourable  compromise  by  which 
the  awful  feud  with  France  might  be  turned  into 
a  lasting  peace.  It  would  be  intensely  interesting, 
if  it  were  possible,  to  know  what  was  said  in  the 
conversation  which  he  had  some  time  ago  with  the 
Comte  de  Paris.  Among  the  many  sentiments 
which  the  late  Emperor  wrote  on  slips  of  paper 
during  the"  months  of  speechlessness,  was  one  that 
I  think  must  have  referred  to  that  burning  ques- 
tion :  "  One  must  get  to  be  much  loved  by  the 
German  nation  to  be  able  to  give  it  the  peace 
which  is  due  to  it."  Does  not  that  sentence  reveal 
the  secret  longing  of  his  heart — shared,  wc  may  be 
sure,  by  his  noble  consort — that  he  might  so  win 
the  love  and  confidence  of  his  people  that  they 
would  consent  to  terms  of  peace  that  would  end 
the  terrible  quarrel  with  France  as  completely  and 
blessedly  as  the  Alabama  arbitration  ended  our 
quarrel  with  the  United  States  ? 

There  arc  some  other  beautiful  qualities  which 
I  must  name  before  I  close.  One  of  these  was  his 
humility.  Even  when  unveiling  the  monument  of 
Frederick  the  Great,  he  dwelt  upon  humility  as  a 
virtue  which  is  as  much  needed  by  States  as  by 
individuals.     So  saying,  he  echoed  the  doctrine  of 


I  go  Social  Christianity. 


the  Book  which  declares  that  one  of  the  three 
fundamental  requirements  of  all  nations  is  that 
they  shall  "walk  humbly  with  God."  The  late 
Emperor's  own  humility  had  a  final  and  character- 
istic illustration  in  his  careful  and  peremptory 
arrangements  for  a  very  simple  funeral.  I  need 
not  dwell  upon  his  moral  courage— a.  quality  so 
immeasurably  superior  to  mere  physical  courage, 
and  so  rare.  How  simply  and  how  quietly  he 
received  from  Sir  Morell  Mackenzie  the  announce- 
ment that  death  was  in  sight!  After  a  moment 
of  solemn  silence,  he  grasped  the  great  doctor's 
hand,  and  said  :  "  I  have  been  lately  fearing  some- 
thing of  this  sort.  I  thank  you,  Sir  Morell,  for 
being  so  frank  with  me."  And  then  the  patience 
with  which  he  awaited  the  inevitable  end,  never 
complaining  amid  ceaseless  pain,  never  neglecting 
any  duty  of  his  Throne— I  need  say  nothing  of 
that.  All  the  world  is  talking  about  that.  Indeed, 
his  sublime  patience  has  been  so  great,  that  few 
have  realized  the  suffering  which  it  hid.  How 
touching  was  the  message — almost  the  last— which 
he  gave  to  his  son,  so  soon  to  be  his  successor  ! 
"Lerne  zu  leiden  oline  zu  klagen" — "Learn  to 
suffer  without  complaining."  I  have  already  dwelt 
upon  his  beautiful  love  for  his  wife  and  his  chil- 
dren. In  the  last  hours  of  his  mortal  agony  he 
remembered  that  it  was  the  eighteenth  birthday  of 


The  Second  German  Emperor.      191 

his  daughter,  the  Princess  Sophia,  and  in  faint  lines 
he  wrote  for  her  upon  a  piece  of  paper  :  "  Remain 
as  noble  and  good  as  you  have  been  in  the  past. 
This  is  the  last  wish  of  your  dying  father."  When- 
ever he  recovered  consciousness,  his  hand  sought 
that  of  his  broken-hearted  wife,  and  held  hers  fast 
in  his,  until  he  slept  again.  What  a  world  of 
significance,  in  the  light  of  recents  events,  there 
is  in  the  fact  that  the  last  time  Prince  Bismarck 
stood  at  his  bedside,  the  dying  man  took  the  white 
and  trembling  hand  of  the  Empress  and  placed  it 
in  the  hand  of  the  powerful  Minister !  Thus 
touchingly  did  he  commend  one  so  soon  to  be  a 
widow  to  the  care  and  protection  of  one  as  soon 
to  be  mightier  than  ever. 

Let  me  close  by  adding  my  own  little  stone 
to  the  great  cairn  which  all  the  world  is  building 
to-day  to  the  memory  of  Frederick  III.  On  the 
occasion  of  the  Queen's  Jubilee  Thanksgiving 
Service,  I  was  in  Westminster  Abbey.  There,  as 
in  the  procession  in  the  streets,  the  Crown  Prince, 
in  his  white  uniform,  tall,  erect,  magnificent,  was 
the  most  conspicuous  and  impressive  figure,  at- 
tracting all  eyes.  During  prayer,  instead  of  follow- 
ing the  undesirable  English  custom  of  remaining 
seated  like  the  rest  of  the  Royal  group,  the  Crown 
Prince  laid  his  Field-Marshal's  truncheon  on  one 
side,  and  knelt  down  on  the   floor   in    the   most 


192  Social  Christianity. 

simple  manner,  entering  into  the  worship  with 
marked  devotion  and  reverence.  There  was  some- 
thing in  his  manner  and  attitude  that  no  beholder 
will  ever  forget ;  and  it  was  in  perfect  harmony 
with  the  long  catalogue  of  Christian  graces  and 
noble  deeds  which,  even  in  this  hasty  panegyric, 
I  have  been  able  without  flattery  and  without 
exaggeration  to  ascribe  to  him.  So  far  as  he  is 
concerned,  we  can  all  joyfully  exclaim,  with  the 
Emperor  of  Austria :  "  Now  are  his  sufferings  at 
an  end ! "  Why  God  should  have  allowed  so 
irreparable  a  loss  to  befall  the  human  race,  at  the 
very  moment  when  the  late  Emperor's  opportuni- 
ties of  high  service  were  greatest,  is  a  problem  I 
will  discuss  this  evening.  I  close  this  Conference 
with  the  remark  that  Frederick  III.  reminds  me  in 
many  respects  of 

"The  imperial  sage,  purest  of  men, 
Marcus  Aurelius.'3 

Like  the  great  Roman  Emperor,  he  was  at  the 
very  summit  of  the  world,  and  he  was  a  lover  of 
mankind.  The  Roman  Emperor  uttered  the 
memorable  words :  "  Even  in  a  palace  life  may 
be  led  well."  He  proved  it,  and  Frederick  III.  has 
proved  it.  This  is,  perhaps,  the  best  and  most 
inspiring  lesson  that  we  can  draw  from  that  short 
reign.  It  is  possible  to  be  the  greatest  ruler  in  the 
world,    and  yet    to  retain    all    the    virtues    of   the 


The  Second  German  Emperor.       19; 


husband,  the  citizen,  and  the  Christian.  In  the 
loftiest  as  well  as  the  lowliest  spheres  we  can 
tread  in  the  footsteps  of  Christ.  This  shall  give 
Frederick  III.  honour  and  love  so  long  as  the 
world  lasts.  He  was  the  greatest  potentate  on 
the  earth,  and  yet  he  was  the  friend  of  freedom 
and  the  champion  of  the  people. 


XIV, 
THE  AUTHORITY  OF   CHRIST. 


Preached  in  St.  James  s  Hall,    Sunday  Event 
September  2yd,    jSSS. 


XIV 
THE  AUTHORITY  OF  CHRIST. 

"  The  multitudes  were  astonished  at  His  teaching  :  for  He  taught 
them  as  one  having"  authority,  and  not  as  their  scribes." — St. 
Matt.  vii.  2S,  29. 

A  FORTNIGHT  ago — at  the  Sunday  morning 
service — I  reminded  you  that  the  personal 
quality  of  Jesus  Christ  which  especially  impressed 
those  who  knew  Him  during  His  life  on  earth,  was, 
not  as  we  might  have  guessed,  His  gentleness,  but 
His  moral  courage — the  rarest  and  the  most  valu- 
able of  all  gifts  in  the  Church  Militant.  "They 
took  knowledge  of"  Peter  and  John,  "that  they 
had  been  with  Jesus,"  when  "  they  beheld  the  bold- 
ness" of  those  two  Apostles  (Acts  iv.  13).  To-night 
I  invite  you  to  notice  the  peculiarity  of  the  great 
Master's  public  teaching,  which  impressed  all  men 
everywhere  He  went.  Our  Bible  says  His  audi- 
ences were  "astonished."  That  word  is  not  strong 
enough.  The  Greek  expression  is  derived  from 
the  word  to  strike.  It  expresses  the  same  idea  as 
our  words  "  thunderstruck,"  "  stunned."  The  great 
quality  to  which   our  attention    is    directed    gave 


198  Social  Christianity . 

them  a  sort  of  electric  shot.  They  had  never  ex- 
perienced anything  like  it.     What  was  it  ? 

His  authority.  He  was  not  like  the  Scribes, 
the  official  copyists  and  interpreters,  or,  as  we 
should  say,  printers  and  expositors  of  the  Hebrew 
Bible.  Their  chief  concern  was  to  give  the  tra- 
ditional interpretation.  They  perpetually  referred 
to  the  great  Rabbis  of  the  past.  They  always 
quoted  the  recognised  authorities.  Jesus  Christ 
never  quoted  anybody  to  confirm  His  teaching. 
He  gave  them  only  His  own  ipse  dixit.  He  said 
simply,  "  I  say  unto  you."  Even  Moses,  the  in- 
spired Lawgiver,  who  talked  face  to  face  with  God, 
humbly  based  his  teaching  upon  "  Thus  saith  the 
Lord."  But  Christ  said  :  "  I  say  unto  you."  Even 
Elijah,  the  greatest  of  the  prophets,  cried,  "'  Thus 
saith  the  Lord."  Christ  alone  dared  to  preface 
His  message  with,  "  I  say  unto  you."  He  did  not 
echo  the  teaching  of  others.  He  did  not  transmit 
the  doctrine  of  the  past.  Well  might  the  Temple 
officers  sent  to  arrest  Him,  return  overwhelmed 
and  helpless  with  the  avowal,  "Never  man  so 
spake." 

It  is,  perhaps,  specially  important  in  an  unsettled 
age  like  this,  to  realize  that  Christ  did  not  argue 
and  prove.  He  asserted  and  decreed.  He  said, 
"  I  am  the  Light  of  the  world  "  ;  and  He  no  more 
laboured   to  prove  that  than  the  sun  labours   to 


The  Authority  of  Christ.  199 

prove  that  he  is  the  light  of  the  physical  world. 
The  sua  does  not  elaborately  argue  that  he  is 
better  than  a  gas-lamp,  better  than  this  brilliant 
electric  light,  better  even  than  moon-light.  He 
simply  shines  forth  in  his  strength.  And  really 
no  argument  is  needed  then.  The  sun  is  the  sun  ; 
there  is  no  mistake  about  it.  When  the  sun  has 
once  risen  and  scattered  the  darkness,  you  never 
doubt.  No  process  of  ratiocination  is  needed. 
You  arc  overwhelmed  by  the  unique  glory  of  the 
sun.  In  like  manner,  no  one  was  ever  argued 
either  into  Christianity  or  out  of  Christianity. 
When  the  Sun  of  Righteousness  rises  with  healing 
in  His  wings,  you  see  His  glory  and  rejoice.  If 
He  is  afterwards  obscured  by  the  mist  of  self-will 
or  the  fog  of  animalism,  you  may  lose  sight  of 
Him.  But  the  true  knowledge  of  Christ  is  always 
a  direct,  unmistakable  intuition.  It  is  never  the 
doubtful  issue  of  argumentative  ingenuity.  If  any 
man,  full  of  ignorance  or  prejudice,  exclaims, 
"  Can  any  good  thing  come  out  of  Nazareth  ?  "  the 
only  possible  answer  is,  "  Come  and  see."  As 
Robertson  of  Brighton  finely  said,  the  highest 
duty  of  the  Christian  minister  is  to  bring  his 
fellow-man  face  to  face  with  Christ,  and  then  him- 
self to  disappear.  Alexander  the  Great  asked 
Diogenes  whether  he  could  render  him  any  ser- 
vice.    "  Yes,"  replied  the  cynic ;  "  cease  to  stand 


200  Social  Christianity. 

between  me  and  the  sun."  That  is  what  every 
wise  man  must  say  to  every  human  teacher : 
"  Kindly  step  aside.  Do  not  stand  between  me 
and  the  Divine  Sun."  The  last  word  of  the 
Christian  minister  is  the  word  of  John  the  Baptist, 
which  won  for  Christ  His  first  disciples  :  "  Behold 
the  Lamb  of  God  which  taketh  away  the  sin  of  the 
world." 

Like  those  who  first  heard  those  words,  let  us 
follow  Jesus.  Let  us  spend  our  time  under  His 
roof.  Let  us  be  as  intimate  with  Him  as  possible. 
We  shall  not  be  very  long  in  discovering,  as  the  first 
disciples  discovered,  that  He  is  indeed  the  Son  of 
the  living  God.  Allow  me  at  this  point  to  ask  you 
\A\dXyou  know  about  Christ  ?  You  have  much  to 
say,  perhaps,  about  Christians,  and  Churches,  and 
Christianity.  Let  us  leave  all  that.  I  do  not  care 
anything  about  Christianity,  or  Church  history,  or 
any  of  these  topics  of  criticism  and  controversy. 
Let  us  talk  about  Jesus  Christ.  Do  you  know 
Him  ?  He  has  been  my  most  intimate  friend  for 
nearly  thirty  years.  Have  you  any  personal  ac- 
quaintance with  Him  ?  What !  none  whatever  ? 
and  yet  you  take  upon  yourself  to  give  an  opinion 
about  His  claims  !  My  dear  sir,  you  know  abso- 
lutely nothing  about  Christianity  until  you  know 
something  about  Christ.  Come  to  Christ  :  sit  at 
His  feet  :  submit  yourself  to  His  influence.     You 


T/ic  Authority  of  Christ.  201 

will  soon  be  astonished,  like  everybody  else  who 
knows  Him,  at  His  unapproachable  authority. 

There  is  something  very  impressive  in  meeting 
one  who  asserts  such  authority  in  these  days. 
Ours  is  an  age  peculiarly  intolerant  of  authority. 
The  old  authority  is  going  or  gone.  Authority 
must  be  built  up  on  a  new  foundation,  or  it  will  go 
altogether.  Authority,  both  in  the  State  and  in 
the  Church,  must  seek  the  qualities  which  con- 
stitute the  authority  of  Christ.  Then  all  will  be 
well,  and  society  will  once  more  repose  on  im- 
movable foundations.  Men  really  crave  to  be 
under  authority.  Carlyle  was  quite  right  when  he 
said  that  man  is  born  not  to  command,  but  to 
obey.  Let  me  say,  however,  in  parenthesis,  that  I 
think  Carlyle  was  quite  wrong  in  the  kind  of 
authority  he  wished  to  set  up.  Frederick  the 
Great  was  an  odious  authority.  But  authority  of 
the  right  sort  we  all  crave.  We  must  have  religious 
as  well  as  political  authority.  We  must  even  have 
an  infallible  teacher,  but  most  of  us  fail  altogether 
to  find  him  in  Rome.  The  real  authority  to  which, 
without  doubt  or  possibility  of  deception,  we  can 
submit  our  whole  being,  is  the  authority  of  Jesus 
Christ. 

And  now,  what  are  the  elements  of  Christ's 
authority  ?  In  the  first  place,  His  is  the  authority 
of  knowledge.     To  Him  all  hearts  are  open,  and  all 


202  Social  Christianity. 

desires  known,  and  from  Him  no  secret  things  are 
hid.  Ponder  His  words.  How  true  they  are  !  It 
is  the  greatest  glory  of  Shakespeare  that  he  held 
up  a  mirror  to  nature.  But  even  the  myriad- 
minded  Shakespeare  held  up  a  defective  mirror. 
He  did  not  know  all  human  beings.  For  example, 
he  could  not  enter  into  the  heart  of  a  child.  All 
his  children  were  grown-up  people,  trying  to  be 
childlike.  But  Christ  held  up  a  mirror  to  nature, 
in  which  there  was  no  defect  and  no  flaw.  If  you 
at  last,  after  many  disappointments,  find  a  medical 
man  who  describes  your  symptoms  exactly,  better 
even  than  you  could  describe  them  yourself,  you 
wisely  have  confidence  in  him.  The  knowledge  of 
the  disease  is  half  the  cure.  Nothing  gives  me 
greater  strength  in  my  most  sceptical  moments 
than  Christ's  knowledge  of  me.  I  ponder  His 
words.  I  am  sure  He  understands  my  case.  He 
sees  me  through  and  through.  He  knows  what  I 
am,  and  what  I  ought  to  be.  Are  you  ill  at  ease  ? 
Are  you  unhappy?  Is  your  life  a  failure  ?  Come 
to  Christ.  He  will  explain  the  Whence  and  the 
Whither.  He  will  reveal  to  you  sin  and  goodness. 
He  will  explain  the  secret  of  happiness,  and  the 
true  life. 

Again,  the  authority  of  Christ  is  the  authority  of 
love.  How  sympathetic  He  is,  how  tender-hearted  ! 
Whenever    He  saw    a    multitude,  He  "had  com- 


The  Authority  of  Christ. 


passion  "  on  them — compassion  deeper  and  more 
unselfish  even  than  the  compassion  of  Buddha. 
Think  of  His  treatment  of  Zacchseus.  "  Come 
down,  and  make  haste,  for  this  day  I  must  abide 
at  thy  house.  Why  "  must "  ?  It  was  the  com- 
pulsion of  irresistible  love,  because  Zacchaeus  was 
the  greatest  and  most  miserable  scoundrel  in 
Jericho.  Think  of  His  gracious  tenderness  to  the 
woman  that  was  a  notorious  "  sinner."  "  Thy  sins 
are  forgiven  thee.  Go  in  peace."  Conventional 
propriety,  ecelesiastic  respectability  shocked  and 
horrified— Christ,  utterly  indifferent  to  human 
opinion,  yearning  with  Divine  love  over  the 
scoundrel  and  the  harlot !  And  then  what  un- 
fathomable depths  of  love  in  the  special  message 
to  the  man  who  denied  Him  with  oaths!  "Tell 
My  disciples  and  Peter."  Think,  again,  of  the 
prayer  for  His  murderers  and  the  parable  of  the 
Prodigal  Son  !  O  Lamb  of  God  !  was  ever  love 
like  Thine  ?  Never,  never.  No  mother  ever 
loved  her  child  so  much  as  Jesus  Christ  loves 
every  one  of  us.  The  late  Adolph  Monod  used  to 
tell  how  once  on  the  coast  of  France  he  tried 
to  induce  a  weather-beaten  sailor  to  attend  a 
religious  service.  When  every  other  argument  had 
failed,  he  used  the  magic  phrase  "your  mother"  ; 
a  tear  started  into  the  sailor's  eye,  he  rose  and 
consented  at  once  to  accompany  M.  Monod.     Oh 


204  Social  Christianity. 

the  irresistible  authority  of  a  mother's  love !  But 
even  a  mother  may  forget  her  child.  Christ  can- 
not forget  you.  Do  you  acknowledge  the  claim  of 
your  mother  ?  Much  greater  is  the  claim  of  Christ. 
Lastly,  the  authority  of  Christ  is  the  authority 
of power.  This  was  what  specially  impressed  many 
of  His  hearers.  "  They  were  astonished,"  writes 
St.  Luke,  "  at  His  teaching,  for  His  word  was  with 
authority"  (iv.  32).  St.  Mark  also  writes:  "They 
were  all  amazed,  saying,  What  is  this  ?  A  new 
teaching  !  with  authority  He  commandeth  even  the 
unclean  spirits,  and  they  obey  Him  "  (i.  27).  Ah, 
yes  !  He  speaks,  and  it  is  done.  "  I  can  call  spirits 
from  the  vasty  deep,"  boasted  Owen  Glendower. 
"  Why,  so  can  I,"  replied  his  mocking  comrade  ; 
"  but  will  they  come,  when  you  do  call  for  them  ?  " 
That  is  the  point.  Any  one  in  these  days  can 
describe  the  beauty  of  an  altruistic  life.  But  how 
to  lead  such  a  life — that  is  the  difficulty.  You 
accept  the  ethical  teaching  of  Christ  ?  Good  :  but 
how  will  you  practise  that  teaching  in  your  own 
strength  ?  It  is  impossible.  Without  the  aid  of 
His  life-giving  Spirit,  it  is  impossible.  Have  you 
ever  considered  the  strength  of  human  passion  ? 
Can  you  catch  Leviathan  with  your  little  hook? 
What  a  revelation  we  have  just  had  in  Whitechapel 
of  sin  and  anguish  !  How  will  you  cast  out  the 
devil  of  drunkenness,  and  the  devil  of  lust,  and  the 


The  Authority  of  Christ.  205 

devil  of  gambling,  and  the  devil  of  greediness  ? 
Christ  can  cast  them  all  out.  He  is  casting  them 
out  every  day.  Now,  as  of  old,  He  says :  "  Go 
and  show  "  him  who  sent  you  "  those  things  whicl? 
ye  do  hear  and  see."  You  believe  in  facts?  I  am 
delighted  !  You  will  find  plenty  of  them  in  our 
Annual  Report,  which  will  be  published  in  a  few 
days.  We  can  give  you  heaps  of  authenticated 
facts  from  Soho. 

Christ  speaks  with  irresistible  authority.  My 
conscience  confesses  the  authority  of  His  know- 
ledge. My  heart  adores  the  authority  of  His  love. 
My  reason  bows  to  the  authority  of  His  power. 
In  Him  my  entire  being  rests  and  rejoices.  You 
may  find  all  you  need  where  I  have  found  it.  You 
may  put  all  this  to  the  test  at  once.  He  is  able, 
willing,  longing  to  save  you  also — to  save  you 
here  and  now. 


XV. 
THE  BR0TI1ERL1NESS   OF  JESUS  CHRIST, 


Pleached  in  St.  James's  Hall,  Sunday  Afternoon, 
Pecemfor  tfh,  iSSS. 


XV. 
THE  BROTHERLINESS   OF  JESUS  CHRIST. 

"  Who  do  men  say  that  the   Son   of  Man    ist" — St.    Matt. 

wi.  Ij. 

YOUR  attention  is  invited  this  afternoon  to 
that  pregnant,  far-reaching  name  of  Jesus 
Christ — "  the  Son  of  Man."  It  has  peculiar  in- 
terest for  us,  because  it  was  His  favourite  name. 
Nobody  else  seemed  to  find  special  pleasure  in 
calling  Him  by  that  name,  but  it  was  the  name 
above  all  others  which  He  delighted  to  give  Him- 
self; and  when  we  remember  who  Christ  was, 
there  is  deep  interest  and  significance  in  that 
fact.  He  desired  to  be  known  emphatically  and 
supremely  as  the  "  Son  of  Man."  He  had  a  hun- 
dred names,  some  of  which  may  seem  to  you  more 
brilliant  and  more  worthy  than  this  ;  but  for  some 
reason  or  other  this  was  the  name  He  preferred. 
Now,  this  name,  "  the  Son  of  Man,"  has  two  sides 
— a  parental  side  and  a  filial  side.  You  may 
emphasize  in  this  complex  name  the  word  "  man," 
or  you  may  emphasize  the  word  "  son." 

Let  us  begin  with  the    parental    side.     Let  us 
209  '4 


210  Social  Christianity. 

emphasize  the  word  "  man."  When  you  say  that 
Christ  is  "  the  Son  of  Man,"  accentuating  and 
underlining  the  word  "man,"  this  great  name 
means  that  the  human  race  is  summed  up  in  Jesus 
Christ ;  that  He  is  the  product  of  all  that  is  best  in 
human  nature ;  that  He  combines  all  the  excellences 
of  all  races  and  of  all  ages ;  that  He  is,  in  one 
word,  the  Ideal  Man  in  whom  meet  all  the  highest 
possibilities  of  human  goodness.  Take  any  other 
great  man,  even  among  those  who  are  the  greatest, 
and  you  find  in  him  the  limitations  and  the  in- 
firmities of  his  race  and  of  his  age.  Let  us  recall 
the  great  thinkers  of  the  human  race,  such  men  as 
Plato,  Shakespeare,  Dante,  Goethe,  Victor  Hugo. 
Every  one  of  these  men  exhibits  the  limitations  of 
his  own  countrymen.  Plato  was  a  Greek  ;  you  can- 
not conceive  him  anything  but  a  Greek.  Shake- 
speare, notwithstanding  his  many-sidedness,  was  an 
Englishman.  Dante  was  an  Italian  of  the  Middle 
Ages.  You  cannot  imagine  Goethe  a  Frenchman. 
You  cannot  imagine  Victor  Hugo  a  German. 
Great  as  they  were — they  were  the  greatest  of  their 
time — these  men  represented  one  age  only.  Take, 
again,  men  who  have  been  supremely  great,  not 
merely  in  intellect,  but  in  the  highest  moral  quali- 
ties— such  men  as  Confucius,  Buddha,  Socrates, 
and  the  Emperor  Aurelius.  But  you  realize  at 
once  that  Confucius  was  a  Chinaman,  that  Buddha 


The  Brotherliness  of  Jesus  Christ.   211 

was   a    Hindoo,  that    Socrates  was  a  Greek,  and 
that  Marcus  Aurelius  was  a  Roman. 

But  when  you  come  to  Christ,  you  find  in  Him 
all  the  excellences  of  all  men,  of  all  nations,  and  of 
all  ages  :  so  that  every  one  who  has  ever  studied 
the  character  of  Jesus  Christ  is  driven  to  the  con- 
clusion reached  by  John  Stuart  Mill;  who  (although 
his  infatuated  father  strove  hard  to  poison  his 
mind  against  Christianity  before  he  was  old  enough 
to  judge  for  himself)  gradually  emancipated  him- 
self from  the  prejudices  instilled  into  his  young 
thoughts,  and  at  last  came  to  see  that,  whatever 
we  may  think  of  the  Christian  religion,  or  of  the 
claims  of  Jesus  Christ,  the  best  test  of  conduct 
under  all  circumstances  was  this :  "  What  would 
Jesus  of  Nazareth  have  done  if  He  had  been  in 
my  place  ?  "  There  is  not  in  Europe  to-day  a  man 
worth  his  salt,  who  would  not  echo  the  sentiment 
of  John  Stuart  Mill.  So  emphatically  was  Jesus 
Christ  the  Son  of  Man,  so  truly  did  the  human 
race  reach  its  highest  possible  ideal  in  Jesus  Christ. 
He  is  the  great  moral  teacher,  the  great  exemplar; 
and  you  and  I  ought  always  to  do  what  even  John 
Stuart  Mill  says  we  ought  to  do — imitate  Christ. 
Those  who  have  read  the  works  of  Ruskin  know 
how  he  warns  young  students  of  art  against  wast- 
ing their  time  and  destroying  their  taste  by  copy- 
ing  inferior  painters.     Let  them  go  to  the  great 


212  Social  Christianity. 

masters.  Even  if  they  cannot  copy  them  per- 
fectly, let  them  do  their  best.  Now,  when  we 
come  to  the  highest  question  of  all— the  question 
of  conduct — why  should  we  take  any  model  ex- 
cept the  highest?  There  are  some  people  who 
have  no  higher  standard  than  the  law  of  the  land 
— the  imperfect,  and  often  unjust  law  of  the  land  ! 
There  are  others  who  take  as  their  standard  the 
conventional  etiquette  of  society  ;  some  even  take 
the  opinions  of  the  West-end  clubs  ;  and  I  believe 
there  are  some  who  positively  accept  the  guidance 
of  the  London  morning  newspapers. 

Is  it  not  time,  brother-men,  that  we  should 
imitate  the  greatest  model  of  all  ?  Let  us  hasten 
to  the  Fountain  Head,  to  "the  Son  of  Man,"  to 
the  living  example  of  all  that  is  best,  noblest,  most 
lovely.  But  so  far  do  many  of  those  who  profess 
to  follow  Christ  wander  from  His  great  example, 
that  they  resent  the  use  of  His  name  in  connec- 
tion with  earthly  affairs  as  a  kind  of  indecency  or 
irreverence.  If  I  may  so  say,  they  would  like  to 
have  Jesus  Christ's  example  wrapped  up  in  tissue 
paper,  as  something  to  be  brought  out  only  on 
Sunday.  The  idea  of  consulting  Jesus  Christ  in  re- 
lation to  business,  to  politics,  and  to  pleasure,  never 
enters  their  head.  Indeed,  they  regard  me  as  a  most 
eccentric  and  dangerous  individual,  because  it  has 
entered  my  head.    I  am  more  and  more  persuaded 


The  Brotherliness  of  Jesus  Christ.   21 


that  no  religion  calling  itself  Christian  is  of  per- 
manent value,  unless  you  can  apply  its  teaching 
to  rich  and  poor,  and  to  Saturday  as  well  as  to 
Sunday.  I  put  Jesus  Christ  before  you  this  after- 
noon as  the  model  Man,  the  wisest  and  the  best 
that  ever  lived. 

Now,  having  said  so  much,  let  us  look  at  the 
other  side.  Let  us  emphasize  the  word  Son — 
"  the  Son  of  Man."  From  this  standpoint  we  find 
that  the  Ideal  man,  the  perfect  Exemplar,  was 
more  than  the  friend  and  brother  of  every  human 
being.  Try  to  grasp  it.  He  felt  as  a  "  Son  "  to 
the  whole  human  race.  To  Him  the  word  "  Son  " 
expressed  the  most  intense  and  reverent  love. 
He  was  the  Son  of  God,  and  you  know  how  in- 
tensely and  how  reverently  He  loved  God ;  but 
He  who  put  that  great  meaning  into  the  word 
Son,  deliberately  called  Himself  "the  Son  of 
Man,"  in  order  that  He  might  express  by  that 
phrase,  with  equal  intensity  and  with  equal  rever- 
ence, His  love  for  the  human  race.  You  remem- 
ber the  touching  incident  in  the  life  of  Noah,  when 
Noah  gave  way  to  drunkenness,  and  when  the 
reverent  love  of  his  sons  prevailed  over  his  moral 
downfall.  The  reverent,  filial  love  of  Jesus  Christ 
prevails  in  like  manner  over  the  moral  downfall  of 
every  man  and  of  every  woman.  This  great  name, 
,;  the  Son  of  Man,"  expresses  the  fact  that  Jesus 


214  Social  Christianity. 

Christ  intensely  loves  every  human  being  in  the 
world,  and  that  He  reverences  human  nature,  even 
in  its  most  degraded  forms.  His  entire  freedom 
from  anything  like  personal  selfishness  has  often 
been  noticed  ;  but  men  have  not  equally  noticed 
that  His  love  of  human  nature  triumphs  quite  as 
much  over  everything  else.  There  are  a  great 
many  men  who  are  not  personally  selfish,  but  who 
are  intensely  selfish  in  other  respects. 

Jesus  Christ  was  entirely  free  horn,  family  selfish- 
ness. The  late  President  of  the  French  Republic 
is  at  this  moment  enduring  great  humiliation  be- 
cause he  seemed  to  cling  to  his  son-in-law,  when 
he  ought  to  have  considered  the  welfare  of  the 
nation.  Those  who  are  not  guilty  of  that  par- 
ticular offence  in  that  form  are  often  guilty  of 
allowing  their  family  interests  to  prevail  over  the 
public  good.  Many  a  man  thinks  he  is  justified  in 
doing  all  sorts  of  things  for  his  wife  and  daughter, 
or  for  the  advancement  of  his  own  family,  which 
Christ  would  not  have  done.  Christ  utterly  re- 
pudiated any  special  family  claim  that  would 
interfere  with  His  love  to  the  whole  human  race. 
Somebody  went  to  Him  on  one  occasion  when  He 
was  preaching,  and  said  :  "  Your  mother  wants  to 
see  you,"  and  He  replied  in  effect :  "Who  are  they 
who  interfere  with  Me,  the  Son  of  the  human 
race?"    and    turning   round    to   the    faithful    and 


The  Brotherlincss  of  Jesus  Christ.   215 

devoted  friends  near  Him,  He  exclaimed  :  "  Be- 
hold My  mother  and  My  brethren  ;  for  whosoever 
docth  the  will  of  My  Father  in  heaven,  the  same 
is  My  brother,  and  sister,  and  mother." 

Again,  He  was  entirely  free  from  class  pride  and 
class  hatred  of  the  poor.  As  one  of  our  time  has 
well  said,  He  was  "  the  most  perfect  gentleman 
that  ever  lived,"  and  yet  He  had  compassion  upon 
the  multitudes.  He  neither  feared  nor  hated  the 
masses.  He  wept  over  the  people,  and  He  loved 
them.  He  loved  them  all — the  bad  as  well  as  the 
good.  There  was  no  trace  in  Him  of  that  class 
prejudice  which  exists  to  such  a  fearful  extent 
in  England  to-day,  and  which  is  quite  inconsistent 
with  pure  Christianity. 

Again,  He  was  entirely  free  from  all  scorn  for 
the  depraved  and  the  outcast.  Think,  for  instance, 
of  the  case  of  Zacchseus,  one  of  the  vilest  wretches 
in  Jericho;  yet  how  courteously,  how  tenderly 
Jesus  Christ  treated  him,  and  instead  of  going  to 
stay  with  some  rich  Pharisee,  He  went  to  the 
house  of  Zaccrueus  !  A  most  touching  illustration 
of  the  tenderness  of  Jesus  Christ  is  to  be  found  in 
His  pity  for  the  harlot.  I  know  nothing  in  which 
ordinary,  commonplace,  conventional  Christians 
differ  more  completely  from  Christ  than  in  the 
way  in  which  they  ignore  and  despise  that  class. 
Some  of  them  actually  permit  the  men  who  create 


2i6  Social  Christianity 


that  class  to  enter  their  drawing-rooms  and  to  sit 
down  in  their  dining-rooms.  Oh  for  the  pitifulness 
of  Jesus  Christ ! 

Jesus  Christ  was  entirely  free  from  ecclesiastical 
bigotry  and  sectarianism.     Have  you  ever  thought 
of  the  fact  that  when  He  wanted  to  put  before  His 
congregation  a  typical  good  man,  He  selected  not 
a  Pharisee  or  some  other  respectable  person,  but  a 
hated  Samaritan,  who  was  both  a  heretic  and  a  schis- 
matic.    He  could  recognise  goodness  wherever  it 
existed.     I  ventured  two  or  three  weeks  ago  to  say 
that  we  should  be  glad    to  see  Christians  of  all 
communions  at  our  Friday  night  meeting.    Among 
the   rest    I    mentioned    Roman    Catholics,   and  a 
number  of  miserable  bigots  were  horrified  because 
I    invited    Roman    Catholics    to   come !      I    also 
happened    to    remark    that    I    regarded    Father 
Ignatius  as  a  devoted  Christian,  though  I  entirely 
differed  from  many  of  his  views  ;  whereupon  some 
unhappy  man  wrote  to  urge  Mr.  Pearse  to  with- 
draw from  all  association  with  me !     Why  should 
I  not  recognise  goodness  in  a  Roman  Catholic  or 
a   High  Churchman  ?     Would  to  God  that  those 
good  men  who  spend  so  much  time  in  denouncing 
their   theological   opponents  would  spend    a  con- 
siderable part  of    it    in    denouncing    the    devil  of 
bigotry  in  their  own  hearts. 

Lastly,    Christ    was    not    only    free    from    the 


The  Brothcrliness  of  Jesus  Christ.    217 

bigotry  and  narrowness  which  blight  so  many  reli- 
gious lives,  but  He  was  also  free  from  national 
selfishness.  No  man  ever  loved  his  countrymen 
more  truly  than  Christ  did,  and  yet  how  heartily 
He  recognised  the  goodness  of  the  Roman  cen- 
turion !  Let  us  beware  of  narrow  and  intolerant 
patriotism,  swollen  with  pride.  Even  I  am  old 
enough  to  remember  the  time  when  everything 
was  done  that  could  be  done  to  make  us  hate  the 
French.  Then  the  newspapers  and  politicians  tried 
to  make  us  hate  the  Russians.  Some  arc  still 
engaged  in  that  miserable  business.  I  will  not 
mention  any  other  people,  but  many  misguided 
journalists  are  trying  every  day  to  induce  the  in- 
habitants of  this  country  to  hate  other  nations. 
It  is  contemptible  and  wicked  beyond  description. 
You  English  people  have  many  good  qualities,  but 
you  have  also  some  very  bad  ones.  The  Irish  and 
Scotch  have  some  virtues  which  we  lack,  and  also 
their  own  characteristic  vices.  The  fact  is,  that 
God  has  divided  His  great  gifts  among  the  nations 
of  the  world.  No  one  nation  possesses  all  of 
them.  Let  us  understand  that  we  are  subject  to 
the  same  moral  law  as  every  other  country.  Let 
us  rejoice  in  the  prosperity  of  other  countries.  Let 
us  put  away  the  national  conceit  which  was  so 
strongly  reproved  by  Christ.  Let  us  realize  that 
no  nation    is  our  natural  enemy.     All   nations  are 


2i8  Social  Christianity. 

really  our  friends,  and  will  act  as  our  friends  if  we 
treat  them  properly.  Let  me  remind  you  that 
Christ  was  free  from  national  selfishness,  although 
He  was  a  Jew ;  and  you  know  how  intolerant  of 
other  peoples  His  fellow-countrymen  were. 

In  the  current  number  of  The  Fortnightly  Review 
there  appears  an  article  by  that  remarkable  Russian, 
Count  Tolstoi,  in  which  he  sums  up  the  teaching  of 
Jesus  Christ  in  five  points.  Without  discussing 
the  rest,  I  heartily  endorse  the  first  and  the  fifth. 
The  first  is  this:  "Live  in  peace  with  all  men; 
treat  no  one  as  contemptible  and  beneath  you  ; 
not  only  banish  anger  from  yourself,  but  do  not 
rest  until  you  have  dispelled  anger  in  others." 
The  fifth  is  :  "  Renounce  all  distinctions  of  nation- 
ality ;  do  not  admit  that  men  of  another  nation 
may  ever  be  treated  by  you  as  enemies  ;  love  all 
men  alike  ;  do  good  to  all  men."  I  do  not  know 
whether  that  commends  itself  to  you,  but  that  was 
what  Christ  said.  He  loved  every  country  under 
heaven.  He  was  "  the  Son  of  Man."  The  "  mind 
of  Christ "  is  the  mind  that  is  full  of  the  most 
tender  and  pitiful  love  to  every  human  being  in 
every  country  under  heaven.  You  must  love  those 
who  hate  you  ;  you  must  bless  those  who  do  evil 
to  you.  Only  thus,  as  Christ  Himself  says,  "shall 
you  become  the  children  of  your  Father  in  heaven." 
When  we  can  induce  all  men  everywhere  to  have 


The  Brotherliness  of  Jesus  Christ.   219 


the  "mind  of  Christ," — that  is,  to  regard  every  man 
in  the  world  as  their  brother  and  every  woman  in 
the  world  as  their  sister,  and  thus  to  be  animated 
by  love  and  by  love  only — then  the  desire  of  Christ 
will  be  satisfied,  and  the  happiness  of  mankind  will 
be  perfect. 


XVI. 

THE  HOPEFULNESS  OF  JESUS  CHRIST. 


Preached  in  St.   James's  Hall.  Sunday  Afternoon, 
November  20th,  iSSS. 


XVI. 
THE  HOPEFULNESS  OF  JESUS  CHRIST. 

"  1 beheld Satan  fallen  as  lightning  from  heaven." — St.  Luke  x. 
iS. 

/"^HRIST  had  sent  out  seventy  of  His  disciples 
^—/  to  go  two  and  two  before  His  face  to  every 
city  ;  and  what  He  told  them  to  do  was  very 
significant.  When  these  representatives  of  Jesus 
Christ  entered  any  house,  He  bade  them  say  : 
"  Peace  be  unto  this  house,"  and  He  added,  "  heal 
the  sick  that  are  therein."  In  other  words,  He 
sent  His  disciples  forth  to  do  what  they  could, 
with  His  assistance,  to  secure  peaceful  and  healtJiy 
homes  for  all  the  people.  If  the  laws  and  customs 
of  our  nation  all  tended  in  the  direction  of  secur- 
ing peaceful  and  happy  homes  for  everybody,  we 
should  be  on  the  high  road  to  national  happiness. 
I  need  scarcely  say  how  far  we  are  from  that  in 
London,  where  tens  of  thousands  of  people  are 
obliged  to  live  in  tenements  that  are  not  fit  for 
animals;  where  thousands  of  families,  as  Mr.  Pearse 
reminded  us  the  other  day,  have  to  live  in  one  room 
— a  condition  of  things  that  is  absolutely  fatal  to 
decency  and  to  civilization.     The  sooner  we  can 

223 


224  Social  Christianity. 

induce  all  our  rulers  to  give  their  earnest  attention 
to  what  Richard  Cobden  said  was  the  greatest  of 
all  questions,  "  the  condition-of-the-people-of-Eng- 
land  question,"  the  better  for  them  and  for  us.  It 
is  absurd  for  us  to  expect  national  stability  and 
national  progress  unless  we  have  what  these  evan- 
gelists were  instructed  to  promote — peaceful  and 
happy  homes.  When  they  returned  to  Christ  from 
that  blessed  mission — the  kind  of  mission  on  which 
it  would  be  well  to  send  our  members  of  Parlia- 
ment two  and  two  over  the  land — they  said  they 
had  not  only  been  able  to  bring  peace  to  many 
households,  and  to  heal  the  sick,  but  that  even  the 
devils  had  been  subject  to  them  in  the  mighty 
Name  of  Christ.  When  they  said  that,  Jesus 
Christ  added  the  words  which  form  my  text  this 
afternoon,  "  I  beheld  Satan  fallen  as  lightning 
from  heaven." 

In  other  words,  in  the  victory  which  they  had 
gained  over  some  of  Satan's  subordinates,  Jesus 
Christ  saw  a  pledge  and  promise  of  complete  vie-, 
tory  over  Satan  himself.  To  the  sanguine  eye  of 
Jesus  of  Nazareth,  the  victory  which  on  that  occa- 
sion they  won  over  evil  in  some  of  its  minor  forms, 
was  the  sure  pledge  that  the  day  would  come  when 
evil  would  be  altogether  conquered.  Jesus  Christ, 
when  He  spoke  of  Satan,  described  Him  signifi- 
cantly enough  as  the  "prince  of  this  world."    There 


The  Hopefulness  of  J c sits  Christ. 


<--D 


are  some  men  who  boast  that  they  are  men  of  the 
world.     If  they  are  men  of  the  world,  and  if  the 
devil  is  the  "  prince  of  this  world,"  as  Christ  says 
he  is,  then  it  necessarily  follows  that  "  men  of  the 
world "    are   subjects   of  the  devil.     There  is  no 
doubt  that  Satan  has  a  great  deal  of  influence  still 
over  human  affairs  ;  though,  blessed  be  God  !  not 
nearly  so  much  as  he  had  two  thousand  years  ago. 
There  are  some  persons,  I  know,  who  laugh  to  scorn 
the  idea  of  the  existence  of  a  personal  spirit  of 
evil.     For  my  part,  I  agree  with  Frederick  Denison 
Maurice  that  the  belief  in  a  personal  devil  is  the 
only  rational  view.     As  for  an  abstract  principle  of 
evil,  who  cares  for  an  abstract  principle  of  evil  ? 
That  will  never  hurt  you  or  me.     All  the  evil  with 
which  I  have  to  deal  is  found  in  living  beings :  and 
unless  you  are  prepared  to  deny  all  personal  exis- 
tence except  that  of  human  beings,  there  is  no 
reason  why  we  should  not  accept  the  statement  of 
Christ  as  to  the  existence  of  the  chief  spirit  of  evil. 
And  who  is  Satan  ?     Satan,  as  Milton  says,  is 
the  eternal  Egotist,  the  incarnation  of  selfishness, 
the  worshipper  of  Power  and  of  Force.    He  believes 
the  chief  thing  everywhere  is  to  "  look  after  num- 
ber one,"  and  he  also  believes  that  the  battle  is 
always  to  the  strong.     Now  Jesus  Christ  believes 
the  exact  opposite.     He  believes  the  best   thing 
is  to  secure  not  your  own,  but  your  neighbour's 

15 


226  Social  Christianity. 

welfare.  He  believes,  also,  that  the  meek  shall 
inherit  the  earth.  So  that  between  Jesus  Christ 
and  Satan  there  is  irreconcilable  opposition.  At 
the  Temptation,  the  devil  said  to  Christ  :  "  If  you 
will  just  pay  me  one  act  of  homage,  you  can  have 
your  own  way."  Christ's  only  reply  was :  "  Get 
thee  behind  Me,  Satan.  Thou  shalt  worship  God." 
To-day  I  want  to  call  your  attention  to  the  fact 
that  Jesus  Christ  never  agrees  to  any  compromise 
with  the  devil,  but  always  assumes  an  attitude  of 
absolutely  irreconcilable  opposition  to  him.  It  is 
the  irreconcilable  opposition,  however,  not  of  des- 
pair, but  of  bright  and  confident  hope.  At  the  fall 
of  the  Commune  in  Paris,  a  few  years  ago,  the  Com- 
munists fought  like  tigers.  They  gave  no  quarter 
They  died  where  they  stood.  Why  ?  Because 
they  expected  no  quarter,  because  the  Government 
troops  gave  no  quarter.  They  fought,  therefore, 
with  all  the  energy  of  despair.  But  the  irrecon- 
cilable attitude  of  Jesus  Christ  does  not  arise  from 
despair,  but  from  the  confidence  of  ultimate 
victory. 

Let  us  consider  for  a  few  moments  this  after- 
noon the  unparalleled  hopefulness  of  Jesus  Christ. 
He  was  the  most  extreme  optimist  the  world  has 
ever  seen.  If  He  could  but  inspire  you  and  me 
with  a  little  of  His  optimism,  it  would  be  an  un- 
speakable blessing  for  London,  England,  and  the 


The  Hopefulness  of  Jesus  Christ. 


--'/ 


world.  We  can  scarcely  realize  the  apparent 
audacity — I  may  reverently  say  the  apparent  ab- 
surdity— of  His  language  and  of  His  manner.  He 
has  already  won  such  glorious  victories  during  the 
last  two  thousand  years  that  we  are  tired  of  hear- 
ing about  the  evidences  of  Christianity.  Christianity 
is  its  own  evidence.  But  at  that  time,  to  all  out- 
ward seeming,  Jesus  Christ  was  simply  a  peasant 
so  poor  that  He  very  rarely  had  so  much  as  a 
penny  in  His  pocket.  He  was  without  the  ad- 
vantages of  academic  culture.  Pie  was  a  man  of 
the  people,  with  scarcely  any  rich  or  educated 
friends  to  support  Him.  Yet  He  made  the  most 
sweeping  and  comprehensive  claims  a  human  con- 
queror has  ever  made ;  and  He  never  admitted  for 
a  moment  that  He  could  be  defeated.  He  counted 
in  the  most  absolute  manner  upon  the  future. 
However  helpless  he  was,  however  weak  His 
weapons,  He  calmly  talked  of  the  good  day  com- 
ing when  He  and  His  disciples  would  rule  the 
whole  world. 

Napoleon  Buonaparte,  on  one  occasion,  when  he 
wanted  cannon  conveyed  over  the  Alps,  consulted 
his  engineer,  who  said  it  was  impossible  to  do  it. 
"Impossible!"  rejoined  the  great  warrior.  "Never 
mention  that  hateful  word  in  my  presence  again. 
It  is  not  in  my  vocabulary."  There  was  some  ex- 
cuse for  the  vain  audacity  of  that  haughty  military 


228  Social  Christianity. 


genius,  who  had  at  his  disposal  the  most  mighty 

army  in  the  world,  and  the  boundless  resources  of 

France.      But  when  Christ  declared  that  nothing 

was  impossible  for  Him  to  accomplish,   He  was 

a  penniless  peasant.     When  His  disciples  came  to 

Him  on  this  occasion  and  said  they  had  not  only 

brought  peace   to  the  homes  of  the  people   and 

healed  the  sick,  but  that  devils  had  been  defeated, 

He  had  a  vision  of  the  glorious  future  that  was 

coming,  and  He  said:  "I  saw  Satan  fallen.''    Satan 

at  that  time  was  so  mighty  that  in  every  country 

under  heaven  the  working  man  was  a  slave.    Christ 

foresaw  a  day  of  triumphant  justice  and  universal 

brotherhood.     He  saw  the  power  of  evil  broken 

and  shattered.    He  saw  God  supremely  triumphant 

everywhere. 

Now,  let  us  catch  something  of  the  spirit  of 
Jesus  Christ.  Nothing  paralyses  our  energies  more 
than  a  positive  conviction,  or  a  secret  dread,  or  a 
half-conscious  fear  that,  after  all,  we  may  be  beaten ; 
that  darkness  may  triumph  over  light;  and  that 
sin  and  misery  may  deluge  the  world.  As  these 
disciples  of  Christ  who  went  among  the  people 
breathing  peace  and  promoting  happiness  were 
confronted  by  devils,  so  are  we.  In  this  country 
those  who  wish  to  be  real  Christians,  and  not 
merely  conventional  Christians,  have  at  least  seven 
devils  to  subdue— the  devil  of  Slavery,  the  devil  of 


The  Hopefulness  of  Jesus  Christ.     229 

Drunkenness,  the  devil  of  Lust,  the  devil  of  Gam- 
bling, the  devil  of  Vulgarity,  the  devil  of  Mammon- 
ism,  and  the  devil  of  War.  Now,  Jesus  Christ  saw 
in  the  defeat  of  a  few  devils  on  that  occasion  the 
promise  and  pledge  of  victory  over  their  chief, 
Satan  himself.  In  like  manner  let  all  lovers  of 
Jesus  Christ  see  to-day  in  what  Jesus  Christ  has 
already  done  to  overthrow  some  of  our  social  devils, 
a  proof  that  they  shall  all  be  overthrown,  and 
that  sin  and  misery  shall  yet  be  abolished  from 
the  earth. 

One  devil  has  almost  received  his  quietus — the 
devil  of  Slavery.  The  extraordinary  way  in  which 
slavery  has  been  abolished  everywhere,  except 
where  Mahomet  rules,  is  the  great  fact  of  our 
century — an  astounding  moral  miracle,  the  full 
significance  of  which  perhaps  very  few  can  realize. 
The  world  will  not  be  made  better  by  soldiers  and 
policemen.  They  have  their  place,  but  they  have 
never  made  the  world  better.  As  John  Bright  has 
said,  "  Force  is  no  remedy."  The  world  is  made 
better  by  moral  influences.  You  cannot  thrust  the 
devil  through  with  a  bayonet,  or  else  we  might 
have  despatched  him  long  ago.  It  is  only  by 
moral  means  that  we  can  overthrow  him.  Con- 
sider the  triumph  of  Jesus  Christ  over  slavery ! 
One  hundred  years  ago  it  was  regarded  as  in- 
evitable, and  many  of  the  great  saints  of  the  past, 


230  Social  Christianity. 

eminent  Christians,  and  devoted  ministers  of  re- 
ligion, had  slaves.  How  is  it  that  there  are  no 
slaves  now  ?  It  is  mainly  due  to  two  men  filled 
with  the  Spirit  of  God ;  and  singularly  enough 
they  were  very  poor  men,  and  not  men  whom  you 
would  call  geniuses.  It  is  the  most  romantic  page 
in  modern  history. 

Nearly  one  hundred  years  ago  a  young  Cam- 
bridge man  named  Thomas  Clarkson,  for  the  mere 
purpose  of  getting  honour  and  money,  had  been 
induced  to  write  a  prize  essay  on  slavery.  As  he 
proceeded  to  accumulate  facts  and  arguments  for 
this  essay,  he  became  convinced  that  slavery  was 
wrong.  He  completed  his  essay,  and  he  proceeded 
from  Cambridge  to  London.  On  the  way  he 
began  to  think  seriously  of  the  awful  horrors 
of  slavery,  and  his  heart  began  to  bleed  for  the 
helpless  African  slaves.  At  last  he  was  so  much 
affected  by  going  over  the  incidents  which  he 
had  collected  for  his  essay,  that  between  Cam- 
bridge and  London  he  halted  at  a  certain  spot, 
now  marked  by  an  obelisk,  get  off  his  horse,  and, 
leaning  against  the  saddle,  calmly  meditated  over 
the  question.  At  last  he  said  in  his  heart,  in 
response  to  the  voice  of  God  :  "  If  this  be  so,  slavery 
must  come  to  an  end."  Then  he  got  on  his  horse, 
rode  to  London,  and  gave  up  all  his  prospects,  that 
he  might  devote  his  life  to  the  abolition  of  slavery. 


The  Hopefulness  of  Jesus  Christ.    231 

At  first  both  political  parties  opposed  him,  and  even 
the  ministers  of  religion  were  against  him.  He  was 
regarded  as  a  most  dangerous,  fanatical  man  ;  and 
he  scarcely  got  any  sympathy,  except  from  a  few 
stray  Quakers,  who  are  generally  in  the  right. 
Ultimately  he  secured  the  sympathy  of  Wilber- 
force  and  Pitt ;  and  he  lived  long  enough,  did  this 
simple  man,  to  see  slavery  abolished  in  the  British 
Empire,  and  even  millions  of  money  voted  by 
Parliament  to  get  rid  of  it.  Behold  how,  in  one 
short  lifetime,  and  through  the  power  of  God, 
great  deeds  may  be  accomplished! 

The  other  champion  of  the  cause  of  the  oppressed 
slave  was  William  Lloyd  Garrison,  a  poor  printer 
lad,  who  issued  from  a  garret  in  a  back  street 
in  America  a  newspaper  which  he  called  The 
Liberator. 

"  In  a  small  chamber,  friendless  and  unseen, 

Toiled  o'er  his  types  one  poor,  unlearned  young  man  ; 
The  place  was  dark,  unfurnitured,  and  mean  ; — 
Yet  there  the  freedom  of  a  race  began." 

He  could  scarcely  get  anybody  to  buy  his  news- 
paper. He  had  to  live  on  bread  and  water  ;  and 
if  occasionally  he  managed  to  sell  a  few  extra 
copies  of  his  wretched  sheet,  he  indulged  in  the 
extravagant  luxury  of  a- little  milk  and  bread  and 
butter.  After  he  had  gone  on  for  some  time, 
people  began  to    hear  of  Garrison,  who  had  the 


232  Social  Christianity. 

audacity  to  print  in  his  little  paper,  "  I  will  be 
heard."  Imagine  the  impudence  of  an  obscure 
printer-boy  saying  from  a  garret  in  a  back  street, 
"  I  will  be  heard  !  "  Nearly  fifty  years  passed  away, 
and  the  influence  of  Garrison  had  spread  to  such 
an  extent,  that  all  the  vested  interests  said  :  "This 
contemptible  scoundrel  " — whom  they  had  tried  to 
kill  several  times — "  has  become  so  mighty  that  we 
cannot  put  him  down  except  by  flying  to  arms." 
They  flew  to  arms,  but  it  was  too  late.  The  ob- 
scure printer-lad  had  won.     He  had  become, — 

"  On  Fortune's  crowning  slope 
The  pillar  of  a  people's  hope, 
The  centre  of  a  world's  desire." 

On  the  ever-memorable  day  on  which  Abraham 
Lincoln  emancipated  the  slaves,  every  eye  turned 
to  William  Lloyd  Garrison  as  the  real  author  of 
that  great  deliverance.  What  an  encouragement 
for  poor  and  obscure  men  !  If  they  are  fighting 
on  the  side  of  God  and  of  humanity,  though  all 
the  world  be  against  them,  they  shall  win ! 

One  other  illustration.  Mrs.  Josephine  Butler 
fought  for  twenty  years  with  inexhaustible  en- 
thusiasm against  the  great  sin  of  Lust.  I  know 
something  of  that  conflict,  for  it  pleased  God  to 
call  me  to  her  side  very  early.  Let  it  not  be  for- 
gotten that  when  that  most  pure  and  brave  and 
Christlike  of  modern  Englishwomen   uttered   her 


The  Hopefulness  of  Jesus  Christ.     2 


00 


loud  cry  of  indignation  and  anger  against  the 
wickedness  of  those  in  high  places,  she  was 
violently  opposed  by  both  Houses  of  Parliament, 
by  the  medical  profession,  by  the  magistrates,  by 
the  Army,  and  by  all  the  London  newspapers. 
Yet  this  brave  woman,  full  of  the  Holy  Ghost, 
fought  them  all  and  defeated  them  all.  The  moral 
I  desire  to  point  this  afternoon  is  that  we  must 
never  compound  with  the  devil ;  we  must  never 
have  a  compromise  with  hell ;  we  must  never 
admit  that  any  evil  is  necessary.  You  will  find 
that  incalculable  mischief  is  wrought  by  admitting 
that  this,  that,  and  the  other  evil  is  "  necessary  "  ; 
that  we  must  make  the  best  of  it ;  that  we  must 
be  satisfied  by  mitigating  it  in  a  slight  degree ; 
and  that  we  can  never  abolish  it. 

Many  years  ago  a  Christian  minister,  referring 
sadly  to  the  death  of  many  leading  members  of 
his  Church,  said  :  "All  the  great  men  are  dead," 
when  a  woman  shouted,  at  the  top  of  her  voice  ; 
"  Thank  God,  that's  a  lie ! "  It  was  a  somewhat 
unpolished  way  of  putting  it  ;  but  whenever  you 
hear  a  member  of  Parliament,  or  politician,  or 
journalist,  or  anybody  else,  saying  that  slavery  is 
necessary,  that  intemperance  is  necessary,  that  lust 
is  necessary,  that  pauperism  is  necessary,  that 
ignorance  is  necessary,  or  that  war  is  necessary, 
you   can,   with   your   Bible    in    your   hand,  shout 


234  Social  Christianity. 

aloud  :  "  Thank  God,  that's  a  lie  !  "  It  may  take 
us  a  little  time  to  rid  the  world  of  these  social 
plagues  ;  but  we  must  have  no  compromise,  no 
treaty  with  the  devil.  Jesus  Christ,  as  King  of 
kings  and  Lord  of  lords,  will  bring  it  to  pass  that 
Right  shall  absolutely  prevail.  When  we  can  find 
a  few  more  Christians  like  Clarkson,  Garrison,  and 
Josephine  Butler,  full  of  the  Holy  Ghost  and  of 
Divine  courage,  victory  will  come,  and  come 
swiftly  too.  Jesus  Christ  said  that  "  Satan  had 
fallen  as  lightning" — suddenly,  in  a  moment.  Yes, 
in  the  days  of  mighty  faith  and  Divine  sympathy 
Satan  shall  fall,  and  his  fall  shall  be  as  sudden 
as  it  shall  be  great  and  irreparable. 


XVII. 
BUDDHA,    OR   CHRIST— WHICH? 


Preached  in  St.  James's  Hall,  Sunday  Evening, 
Easier  Day,  I 888. 


XVII. 
BUDDHA,    OR   CHRIST—  WHICH 7 

"  One  died  for  all,  therefore  all  died ;  and  He  died  for  all,  that 
they  which  live  should  no  longer  live  into  themselves,  but  unto  Him 
who  for  their  sokes  died  and  rose  again? — 2  Cor.  v.  14,  15. 

THIS  is  the  Day  of  days;  the  greatest  Day 
in  human  history ;  the  day  of  the  Resurrec- 
tion of  the  Son  of  Man  The  sentence  just  read 
is  St.  Paul's  philosophy  of  Easter  Day :  St.  Paul's 
explanation  of  its  practical  significance  for  us. 
Let  us,  from  the  Pauline  standpoint,  see  how  the 
Gospel  of  the  Resurrection  deals  with  the  ultimate 
need,  and  removes  the  fundamental  misery  of 
mankind.  I  propose  to  do  this  in  a  somewhat 
unusual,  but  as  it  seems  to  me  very  demonstrative 
way,  by  calling  into  the  witness-box  a  remarkable 
witness — Buddha,  "  the  Light  of  Asia." 

Nothing  is  more  significant  than  the  way  in 
which  Buddha  captivates  the  imaginations  and  the 
hearts  of  modern  Europeans.  Even  Socrates  is 
superseded  at  last.  The  great  Athenian  is  placed 
beneath  the  great  Hindoo.  The  moral  beauty  of 
Buddha's  character  has  eclipsed  the  hero  of  Plato's 
incomparable  pen.     I  am  told  that  the  admiration 


Social  Christianity. 


of  Buddha  has  gone  so  far  that  some  of  the 
educated  young  men  in  one  of  our  great  northern 
towns  openly  avow  themselves  Buddhists.  This 
extravagance  is  no  doubt  due  to  the  glamour  of 
Sir  Edwin  Arnold's  fascinating  poem,  "The  Light 
of  Asia."  That  poem  could  never  have  been  written 
by  a  Buddhist,  or  by  any  one  who  was  not  satu- 
rated with  the  New  Testament.  It  is  a  Christian 
version  of  the  Buddhist  legend  ;  and  it  invests 
Buddha  with  a  Christian  halo  to  which  he  has 
no  real  historic  claim.  Moreover,  the  numerical 
strength  of  Buddhism  has  been  grossly  exagger- 
ated. Recent  censuses  and  calculations  show  that 
there  are  not  nearly  so  many  Buddhists  in  the 
world  as  is  commonly  supposed. 

Nevertheless,  after  every  necessary  deduction 
has  been  made,  it  remains  that  five  hundred  years 
before  the  birth  of  Christ,  Buddhism  had  reaped 
great  victories  ;  that  it  is  to-day  the  predominant 
faith  of  Asia ;  and  that  it  has  gained  its  millions 
of  adherents  not  by  force  of  arms,  but  by  the  moral 
suasion  of  fervid  speech  and  gracious  example. 
So  magnificent  a  fabric  could  not  rest  upon  a 
foundation  of  absolute  falsehood.  Some  great 
truth  must  live  in  the  heart  of  Buddhism,  or  it  had 
perished  long  ago.  What  is  that  truth  ?  Sir 
Edwin  Arnold  will  express  it  for  us. 

He   tells    us    in    exquisite   verse   how    Buddha, 


Buddha,  or  Christ — which  ?         239 

horrified  by  the  spectacle  of  Disease,  Old  Age,  and 
Death,  set  himself  to  discover  the  cause  and  the 
cure  of  human  woe  : 

"Then  cried  he,  while  his  lifted  countenance 
Glowed  with  the  burning  passion  of  a  love 
Unspeakable,  the  ardour  of  a  hope 
Boundless,  insatiate  :  '  Oh  !  suffering  world, 
Oh  !  known  and  unknown  of  my  common  flesh, 
Caught  in  this  common  net  of  death  and  woe, 
And  life  which  binds  to  both  !  I  see,  I  feel 
The  vastness  of  the  agony  of  earth, 
The  vainness  of  its  joys,  the  mockery 
Of  all  its  best,  the  anguish  of  its  worst ; 
Since  pleasures  end  in  pain,  and  youth  in  age, 
And  love  in  loss,  and  life  in  hateful  death, 
And  death  in  unknown  lives,  which  will  but  yoke 
Men  to  their  wheel  again  to  whirl  the  round 
Of  false  delights,  and  woes  that  are  not  false.'  " 

The  last  three  lines  express  the  doctrine  of  the 
transmigration  of  souls  which  Buddha  learned 
from  the  Hinduism  in  which  he  was  trained.  That 
doctrine  intensified  his  conception  of  human  misery, 
because  it  extended  it  over  many  lives. 

At  last  Buddha  makes  the  great  discovery 
At  the  root  of  all  human  misery  is — TrisJuia, 
Desire, 

"  That  thirst  which  makes  the  living  drink 
Deeper  and  deeper  of  the  false  salt  waves 
Whereon  they  float  :  pleasures,  ambitions,  wealth, 
Praise,  fame,  or  domination,  conquest,  love; 
Rich  meats  and  robes,  and  fair  abodes,  and  pride 
Of  ancient  lines,  and  lust  of  days,  and  strife 


240  Social  Christianity. 

To  live,  and  sins  that  flow  from  strife,  some  sweet, 
Some  bitter.     Thus  life's  thirst  quenches  itself 
With  draughts  which  double  thirst.1' 

The  great  problem,  then,  is  to  get  rid  of  this 
Trishna,  this  Desire,  this  "aching  craze  to  live," 
this  self-assertion.  How  can  this  be  clone  ? 
Buddha  answers  : 

He  "  who  is  wise, 
Tears  from  his  soul  this  Trishna,  feeds  his  sense 
No  longer  on  false  shows,  files  his  firm  mind 
To  seek  not,  strive  not,  wrong  not  ;  bearing  meek 
All  ills  which  flow  from  foregone  wrongfulness, 
And  so  constraining  passions  that  they  die 
Famished." 

That  is  to  say,  he  gradually  mortifies  the  Trishna 
by  starving  it.  He  resists  every  form  of  self-asser- 
tion. He  cultivates  an  utter  indifference  to  every 
kind  of  self-seeking  and  self-pleasing ;  until,  at 
last,  the  Trishna — weakened  more  and  more  in 
each  successive  life — perishes  altogether, 

"  The  aching  craze  to  live  ends,  and  life  glides — 
Lifeless — to  nameless  quiet,  nameless  joy, 
Blessed  Nirvana — sinless,  stirless  rest — 
That  change  which  never  changes  !  " 

That  is  the  Gospel  of  Buddha ;  and  it  has 
spread  and  prevailed  over  Asia  because  it  is 
founded  upon  a  profound  truth.  Buddha  is  the 
greatest  teacher  the  world  has  ever  seen,  except 
the  Divine  Master    Himself,  because  he  laid  his 


Buddha^  or  Christ — which  ?         241 

finger  upon  the  real  source  of  human  misery — 
Trishna. 

Knowledge  of  the  disease  is  half  the  cure,  and 
Buddha  knew  the  disease.  He  called  the  disease 
Trishna,  or  self-assertion.  St.  Paul  called  it  the 
Flesh.  St.  John  called  it  Unbrotherlincss.  Our 
Lord  called  it  Unfilial  Conduct.  The  Prodigal 
Son  yielded  to  TRISHNA  when  he  said,  "  Father, 
give  me  the  portion  of  thy  substance  that  falleth 
to  me."  Buddha  was  quite  right  in  contending 
that  what  we  want  is  not  self-assertion,  but  self- 
suppression. 

But  there  are  four  fatal  objections  to  Buddha's 
fragmentary  and  impotent  Gospel :  — 

1.  He  leaves  man  to  his  own  resources. 
He  urges  him  by  immense  efforts  to  over- 
come and  suppress  the  evil  that  torments  him. 
But  this  is  an  impossible  task.  The  utmost 
achievement  of  men  is  to  cry  out  with  St. 
Paul :  "  O  wretched  man  that  I  am  !  who 
shall  deliver  me  ?  " 

2.  The  deliverance  Buddha  offers,  even  if 
it  were  possible,  is  slow,  difficult,  distant. 
Whereas,  what  man  really  needs  is,  "  a  very 
present  help  in  trouble"  (Ps.  xlvi.  1). 

3.  Buddha  makes  even  that  distant  deliver- 
ance so  indefinite  that  the  learned  themselves 
hold  the    most   contradictory  opinions    about 

16 


242  Social  Christianity. 


the  final  goal,  Nirvana.  It  is  quite  uncertain 
whether  Nirvana  does  or  does  not  mean  the 
extinction  of  separate  individuality. 

4.    Buddha    taints    his    brotherliness    with 
selfishness.     Even  the  wonderful  humanity  of 
Buddhism  aims  mainly  at  a  personal  advan- 
tage in  the  extinction  of  the  Trishna. 
Now  place  over  against  these  four  fatal  defects 
the  four  great  blessings  of  the  Gospel  of  Jesus 
Christ,  the  Gospel  of  the  Resurrection  : — 

1.  In  the  first  place,  Jesus  Christ  gives  us  His 
own  risen  life :  "  God  gave  unto  us  eternal  life, 
and  this  life  is  in  His  Son.  He  that  hath  the 
Son  hath  the  life  ;  he  that  hath  not  the  Son 
of  God  hath  not  the  life"  (1  John  v.  11,  12). 
Hence  we  are  saved  from  self-assertion  not  by 
our  own  efforts — which  are  smitten  with  an 
incurable  spiritual  impotence — but  by  the  very 
life  of  Christ,  who  abides  in  us  so  far  and  so 
long  as  we  abide  in  Him.  The  power  we 
need  is  a  free  gift — not  the  doubtful  result  of 
fierce  struggling.  Abiding  in  Christ  as  the 
branch  abides  in  the  vine,  we  receive  "  of  His 
fulness  "  (St.  John  i.  16). 

2.  Christ  died  on  the  cross  "  once  for  all " 
(Rom.  vi.  10).  We  may  therefore  reckon 
ourselves  "  even  so,"  once  for  alt,  dead  unto 
sin,  unto  Trishna.     Jesus  Christ  offers  us  an 


Buddha,  or  Christ — which  ?         24 


instantaneous  deliverance  from  the  great  curse 
of  self-assertion.  We  need  not  live  to  the 
flesh,  or  be  guilty  of  unbrotherly  or  unfilial 
conduct  any  more.  "Sin  shall  not  have 
dominion  over  you  "  (Rom.  vi.  14).  "  Behold 
now  is  the  acceptable  time;  behold,  now  is 
the  day  of  salvation  "  (2  Cor.  vi.  2). 

3.  What  Christ  offers  us  is  not  a  vague  and 
unintelligible  Nirvana.      Christianity  does  not 
propose  to  annihilate   self-assertion  by  anni- 
hilating Self.     That  were  to  get  rid  of  disease 
by  getting  rid  of  life  itself.      In  the  Gospel  of 
Jesus  Christ  the  Trishna  goes,  but  the  Ego 
remains.     You  are  never  more  truly    "  your- 
self"  than  when  "  your  life  is  hid  with  Christ 
in  God  "  (Col.  in.  3).      There  is  no  pantheistic 
sacrifice  of  personal  identity.    All  that  is  most 
truly  yourself  will  remain  self-conscious  and 
joyous  for  ever.     But  the  burden  of  sin,  the 
bondage  of  selfishness,  the  anguish  of  spiritual 
helplessness  will  be  gone. 

4.  Lastly,  Christianity  is  contrasted  with  the 
fourth  defect  of  Buddhism  by  the  fact  that 
it  is  free  from  the  least  taint  of  selfishness. 
Christianity  prompts  us  to  lead  a  humane 
and  benevolent  life,  not  to  escape  from  life, 
but  for  its  own  sake,  because  a  humane  and 
benevolent  life  is  in  itself  blessed  for  ever. 


244  Social  Christianity. 

For  these  reasons,  as  well  as  for  others,  there  is 
no  comparison  between  Buddhism  and  Christianity. 
Buddha  pointed  out  the  disease.  Let  him  have 
deserved  credit  for  that.  But  he  could  do  no 
more.  He  found  out  no  remedy.  Christ  and 
Christ  alone  can 

"  Minister  to  a  mind  diseased  ; 
Pluck  from  the  memory  a  rooted  sorrow  ; 
Raze  out  the  written  troubles  of  the  brain  ; 
And,  with  some  sweet,  oblivious  antidote, 
Cleanse  the  stuffd  bosom  of  that  perilous  stuff 
Which  weighs  upon  the  heart." 


XVIII. 
SCHOPENHAUER   OR    CHRIST— WHICH ? 


Preached  in  St.  James's  Hall,  Sunday  Evening, 
May  6th,   1888. 


XVIII. 
SCHOPENHAUER   OR   CHRIST—WHICH '? 

"I delight  to  do  Thy  will,  0  my  God."— Vs.  xl.  8. 

FEW  weeks  aero  we  saw  that  Buddha  had 


A 


discovered  that  the  source  of  human  misery 

was  Trishna,  Desire, 

"  That  thirst  which  makes  the  living  drink 
Deeper  and  deeper  of  the  false  salt  waves 
Whereon  they  float  :  pleasures,  ambitions,  wealth, 
Praise,  fame  or  domination,  conquest,  love  ; 
Rich  meats  and  robes,  and  fair  abodes,  and  pride 
Of  ancient  lines,  and  lust  of  days,  and  strife 
To  live,  and  sins  that  flow  from  strife,  some  sweet, 
Some  bitter." 

This  thirst — 

"  Quenches  itself 
With  draughts  which  double  thirst." 

But  the  "  wise  man  " 

"  Tears  from  his  soul  this  Trishna." 
He  "seeks  not,  strives  not,  wrongs  not"  ;  until 
at  last  he  succeeds  in  starving  t\\o.  Trishna  to  death. 
Then 

"  The  aching  craze  to  live  ends,  and  life  glides — 
Lifeless — to  nameless  quiet,  nameless  joy, 
Blessed  Nirvana — sinless,  stirless  rest — 
That  change  which  never  changes  !  " 


248  .  Social  Christianity. 

That  is  what  Buddhism  promises,  but  cannot 
perform.  It  is  all  very  well  to  talk  ravishingly 
about  starving  the  Trishna  to  death.  It  cannot 
be  done,  except  by  the  power  of  Jesus  Christ. 
Buddha  made  a  correct  diagnosis  of  the  disease, 
but  he  knew  not  the  remedy.  Asia  had  still  to 
wait  for  five  centuries  before  she  heard  the  voice 
of  her  great  Physician. 

The  problem  which  Buddha  pondered  so  pathe- 
tically and  so  absorbingly,  has  been  discussed  and 
explained  in  a  substantially  similar  way,  in  our 
own  time,  by  Schopenhauer,  the  founder  of  modern 
European  Pessimism.  He  finds  the  root  of  all 
misery  in  "the  will  to  live,"  in  "the  ceaseless 
striving  after  the  unattained."  So  he  defines  the 
Trishna. 

And  is  he  not,  to  a  certain  extent,  right?  Is 
not  this  one  side  of  the  truth  ?  We  are  all  con- 
scious of  a  ceaseless  straining  after  something. 
We  hunger  for  the  bread  which  perishes.  But  even 
though,  like  Dives  ot  old,  we  "fare  sumptuously 
every  day,"  we  are  not  satisfied.  We  are  greedy 
for  money.  But  mountain  heaps  of  money-bags 
bring  no  rest.  We  toil  after  learning.  But  the 
wisest  among  us  are  smitten  with  keener  dis- 
satisfaction than  the  rest.  Who  are  so  pessimis- 
tic as  some  of  the  most  brilliant  graduates  of 
Oxford   and    Cambridge  ?      We  pine  for   human 


Schopenhauer  or  Christ — which  ?     249 

love.  But  even  that  does  not  solace  us  altogether. 
In  every  human  heart  there  is  an  "  aching  void  " 
which  nothing  that  this  earth  bestows  can  wholly 
fill.  We  are  "  like  the  troubled  sea."  We  "  cannot 
rest."  How  shall  we  satisfy  this  ceaseless,  insati- 
able longing  ? 

Schopenhauer  says  that  the  only  course  is  to 
educate  the  intellect,  to  seek  high  culture  ;  for 
with  that,  he  argues,  comes  first  control,  and  then 
suspension  of  our  "  miserable  will."  Here  he  finds 
the  secret  of  aesthetic  pleasure.  Art  lures  man  into 
self-forgetfulness.  "  Everything  is  beautiful  only 
so  long  as  it  does  not  concern  us."  John  Stuart 
Mill  tried  the  same  fantastic  method  of  circum- 
venting human  misery.  He  sought  piteously  to 
attain  happiness  by  not  aiming  at  it. 

Schopenhauer's  dismal  evangel  is  an  attempt  to 
reach  Nirvana  by  curbing  and  crushing  the  Will. 
This  horrible  Desire,  says  Schopenhauer,  is  the  pro- 
duct of  the  blind,  aimless,  endless  striving  which 
runs  through  the  universe.  There  is,  according  to 
this  teacher,  no  personal  God,  and  existence  is  a 
curse.  Yet  suicide  would  be  no  remedy,  for  the 
very  act  of  suicide  would  be  a  supreme  effort  of 
that  very  Will  which  must  be  suppressed.  The 
prospect  from  every  point  of  view  is  the  blackness 
of  darkness  unrelieved  by  a  single  ray  of  light. 

Contrast,   now,  tlie  philosophy  of  Jesus  Christ 


250  Social  Christianity. 

with  this  doctrine  of  Despair.  Our  great  Master 
teaches  that  the  ceaseless,  insatiable  Desire  over 
which  Buddha  and  Schopenhauer  so  loudly  lament, 
arises  from  the  fact  that  man  is  in  a  false  position 
altogether.  You  see  a  fish  writhing  on  the  sea 
shore.  You  lament  this  "  blind,  aimless,  endless 
striving."  But  why  does  it  writhe  so  ?  Because  it 
is  out  of  its  element.  Pick  it  up,  and  throw  it 
back  into  its  native  ocean.  All  its  awkward  and 
painful  contortions  cease  at  once.  It  moves  to 
and  fro,  easily,  beautifully,  happily.  Man,  like  that 
poor  fish  on  the  sea  shore,  is  out  of  his  native 
element.  He  was  made  to  live  and  move  and  have 
his  being  in  the  love  of  God.  Taken  out  of  that 
blissful  element,  he  writhes,  pants,  gasps,  groans, 
dies.  Restore  him  to  the  love  of  God,  plunge  him 
into  "  the  Godhead's  deepest  sea,"  and  all  is  well. 
His  soul  cries  out  exultingly, — 

"  O  Love,  thou  bottomless  abyss, 
My  sins  are  swallowed  up  in  thee  ! 
#  #  *  #  * 

With  faith  I  plunge  me  in  this  sea  ; 
Here  is  my  hope,  my  joy,  my  rest." 

You  see  a  caged  eagle.  He  droops.  He  is  ill. 
There  is  anguish  in  his  kingly  eye.  He  dashes  his 
great  pinions  against  the  iron  bars.  Again  you 
lament  his  "  blind,  aimless,  endless  striving."  Yes, 
but  shatter  that  prison-cage.     Let  him  spread  his 


Schopenhauer  or  Christ — which?    251 

strong  wings,  and  soar  to  his  native  "  deep-domed 
empyrean."     Now 

"  Close  to  the  sun  in  lonely  lands, 
Ring'd  with  the  azure  world,  he  stands  ; 
The  wrinkled  sea  beneath  him  crawls." 

In  like  manner  so  long  as  man  is  "  cabined 
cribbed,  confined  "  within  the  prison-cage  of  sin, 
he  pines  and  frets  his  life  away.  Release  him. 
He  "mounts  up  with  wings  as  an  eagle"  (Isa.  xl. 
31).  He  roves  at  large  "in  the  heavenly  places" 
(Eph.  i.  3).     He  lives,  is  free,  is  radiant  with  joy. 

In  a  word,  man  was  never  intended  to  lead  an 
independent  life,  to  be  thrown  on  his  own  re- 
sources. At  the  creation  God  said,  "  Let  us  make 
man  in  our  own  Image,  after  our  Likeness"  .... 
"  and  God  created  man  in  His  own  Image,  in  the 
Image  of  God  created  He  him  ;  male  and  female 
created  He  them "  (Gen.  i.  26,  27).  Thought- 
ful readers  in  all  ages  have  noticed  the  marked 
omission  of  any  reference  to  the  Likeness  of  God  in 
the  second  of  these  verses.  The  entire  purpose  of 
the  ever-blessed  Trinity  was  not  carried  out  at 
once,  probably  could  not  be  carried  out  before  the 
Incarnation.  Man  was  created  in  the  Image  of 
God,  when  God  breathed  into  him  a  true  Person- 
ality. But  how  could  that  human  Person  attain 
to  the  Likeness  of  the  Divine  Life  until  he  was 
united   to  Christ  as  the  branch  is  to  the  vine  and 


252  Social  Christianity. 

"  Christ  lived  in  him  "  ?  (Gal.  ii.  20).  "  He  that 
hath  the  Son  hath  the  life  ;  he  that  hath  not  the 
Son  of  God  hath  not  the  life  "  (1  John  v.  12). 

Created  in  the  Image  of  God,  man  has  a  true 
personality.  He  is  self-conscious.  He  has  a  sense 
of  right  and  wrong.  He  is  a  free  agent.  He  is, 
therefore,  capax  dei,  capable  of  vital  union  with 
Christ,  of  personal  "fellowship  with  the  Father 
and  with  His  Son  Jesus  Christ"  (1  John  i.  3). 
Without  that  vital  union,  without  that  personal 
fellowship,  he  is  like  a  fish  out  of  water  or  a  caged 
eagle.  He  is  worse.  He  is  a  mere  torso,  a  mere 
fragment  of  a  man.  Hence  his  ceaseless  unrest, 
and  his  insatiable  desire.  Apart  from  Christ  he  is 
in  a  false  position.  He  is  like  a  branch  severed 
from  a  vine,  or  an  hand  cut  off  from  the  body  to 
which  it  belongs. 

In  the  terribly  significant  language  of  Byron,  he 

is 

"  Lord  of  himself,  that  heritage  of  woe." 

Every  man  proves  as  Byron  proved,  that  an 
independent,  self-centred  life  is  unendurable. 
Augustine  uttered  the  profoundest  truth  when  he 
exclaimed,  "  O  God,  we  were  created  for  Thee, 
and  we  have  no  rest  until  we  return  to  Thee." 

Contrast  with  the  anguish  of  Buddha  or  Scho- 
penhauer the  perfect  serenity,  the  Sabbatic  calm 
of  the  ideal  Man,   Jesus  Christ.      What  was    the 


Schopenhauer  or  Christ — which  ?     253 


secret  of  "  the  peace  of  our  Lord  Jesus  Christ  "  ? 
It  was  His  absolute  and  uninterrupted  sub- 
mission to  the  Eternal  Father.  Listen  to  His 
own  words,  the  exact  expression  of  His  life  : 
"My  meat  is  to  do  the  will  of  Him  that  sent 
Me  "  (St.  John  iv.  34).  Again,  "  I  seek  not  Mine 
own  will,  but  the  Will  of  Him  that  sent  Me" 
(St.  John  v.  30).  Again,  "I  am  come  down  from 
heaven,  not  to  do  Mine  own  will,  but  the  will  of 
Him  that  sent  Me"  (St.  John  vi.  38).  At  the  crisis 
of  His  life  He  cried,  "Nevertheless  not  as  I  will, 
but  as  Thou  wilt  "  (St.  Matt.  xxvi.  39).  At  the  close 
of  His  ministry  He  was  able  to  say,  "  I  have 
finished  the  work  which  Thou  gavest  Me  to  do." 
When  men  come  to  this  Christ  and  abide  in  Him 
their  long  agony  ceases.  Their  minds  being  stayed 
on  God  are  kept  in  "perfect  peace  "  (Isa.  xxvi.  3). 
We  have  now  before  us  the  two  possibilities  of 
man.  For  Asia  there  are  only  two  alternatives — 
Christ  or  Buddha.  For  Europe  there  are  only  two 
alternatives— Christ  or  Schopenhauer.  We  might 
sum  up  the  whole  case  in  the  memorable  words  of 
Lavater,  and  say  that  henceforth  for  all  men  there 
are  only  two  alternatives — Christ  or  Despair.  You 
deceive  your  own  soul  if  you  imagine  the  root  of 
your  misery  is  in  your  circumstances — it  is  in 
yourself.  Well  did  Milton  put  into  the  mouth  of 
Satan    these   terrible   words,    "  Myself    am    hell." 


254  Social  Christianity. 

Separation  from  God  is  eternal  torment  for  man 
and  angel.  O  soul  of  man,  you  are  like  the  weary 
dove  that  flew  sadly  over  the  wild  waste  of  waters  ; 
and  found  no  resting-place  for  the  sole  of  its  foot, 
until  it  returned  to  the  Ark  from  which  it  fled. 
Come  back  to  God,  and  all  will  be  well.  Wander 
away  from  God,  and  there  is  nothing  before  you 
except  blackness,  and  despair,  and  death. 


XIX. 

GAMBLING. 


Preached  in  St.  James's  Hall,  Sunday  Afternoon, 
June  ztflu   iSSS. 


XIX. 

GAMBLING. 

" Let   no  man  seek   his  own,  but  each  his  neighbours  good" — 
I  Cor.  x.  2\. 

AFTER  to-day  the  Sunday  Afternoon  Con- 
ference will  be  suspended  until  the  autumn. 
I  praise  God  for  the  health  and  strength  which 
have  enabled  us  to  hold  this  Conference  without 
interruption  every  Sunday  since  last  October. 
One  member  of  the  Brass  Band  has  died.  With 
that  painful  exception,  all  who  have  taken  an 
official  part  in  this  long  series  of  Conferences  are 
here  to-day  in  good  health,  and  with  stronger  and 
brighter  hopes  than  ever  for  the  extension  of  the 
kingdom  of  Jesus  Christ.  I  had  intended  to  re- 
capitulate the  subjects  of  our  various  discussions  ; 
and  to  restate  once  more  our  fundamental  prin- 
ciple that  the  Son  of  God  came  to  save  Society 
as  well  as  the  individual.  But  it  is  always  our 
rule  to  make  everything  give  way  to  urgent  prac- 
tical considerations.  I  have  therefore  altered  my 
arrangements,  and  decided  to  speak  about  one  of 
the  greatest  and  most  ominous  of  our  national 
curses — gambling. 

'57  17 


258  Social  Christianity. 

It  is  not  without  significance  that  we  have  never 
before  discussed  this  topic.  Why  is  it  that  gambling 
has  never  come  up  ?  Something  is  doubtless  due 
to  the  inevitable  limitations  of  time,  of  capacity, 
and  of  sympathy.  It  is,  perhaps,  impossible  for 
any  one  to  be  equally  alive  to  all  forms  of  wrong 
and  misery.  You  and  I  are  pre-occupied  with 
many  absorbing  enterprises  and  movements.  Still, 
I  cannot  but  feel  that  our  singular  silence  with 
respect  to  the  gigantic  social  curse  of  gambling  is 
largely  due  to  the  fact  that  Christian  men  generally 
are  as  unawakened  in  relation  to  this  evil  as  our 
great-grandfathers  were  to  the  evils  of  drunkenness 
and  lust.  The  time  has  more  than  come  to  face, 
denounce,  and  attack  the  gigantic  evil  of  gambling. 

Many  years  ago  Mr.  James  Greenwood,  .the 
"amateur  casual,"  declared  that  London  was  afflic- 
ted with  "seven  curses."  They  were  (1)  neglected 
children,  (2)  professional  thieves,  (3)  professional 
beggars,  (4)  fallen  women,  (5)  drunkenness,  (6) 
gamblers,  and  (7)  waste  of  charity.  I  should  like 
to  amend  the  fourth  section  of  that  indictment  by 
saying,  "  fallen  men  "  rather  than  "  fallen  women." 
I  agree  with  a  wise  philanthropist  in  the  convic- 
tion that  most  of  these  women  are  not  "  fallen," 
but  "  knocked-down  "  women.  It  is  the  men  who 
are  the  great  curse  ;  the  base  and  cowardly  men 
who  prowl  the  streets  at  night,  insulting  every  un* 


Gambling.  259 

protected  woman  they  meet.  Stop  the  demand 
and  the  supply  will  cease.  Arrest  these  vile 
scoundrels,  and  that  curse  would  soon  disappear. 
With  respect  to  the  sixth  curse,  which  is  our  sub- 
ject to-day,  Mr.  Greenwood  went  so  far,  even  at 
that  date,  as  to  say  that  gambling  "  causes  perhaps 
more  ruin  and  irreparable  dismay  than  any  other 
two  of  the  curses  of  London."  Without  endorsing 
that  very  strong  statement,  which  comes,  however, 
from  the  pen  of  one  who  writes  with  authority,  we 
must  admit  that  gambling  has  become  a  gigantic 
curse.  It  is  also  indisputable  that  since  Mr. 
Greenwood  wrote,  the  evil  has  increased  to  an 
appalling  extent. 

Fleet  Street  is  now  almost  impassable  when  the 
telegraphed  result  of  some  race  is  expected  at  the 
offices  of  the  sporting  journals.  When  the  tele- 
gram appears  in  the  window,  hundreds  of  fools 
and  scoundrels  rush  about  Fleet  Street  in  a  state 
of  lunatic  excitement.  The  most  distressing 
feature  of  this  madness  is  to  see  in  that  wild 
crowd  so  many  working-men,  who,  in  their  shirt 
sleeves,  dash  out  of  the  printing  houses  and  other 
offices  of  the  neighbourhood  to  learn  the  result. 
Another  appalling  evidence  of  the  spread  of 
gambling  is  the  immense  space  and  prominence 
which  betting  intelligence  occupies  in  the  ordinary 
newspapers.     So  far  as   I    am    aware,    The  Leeds 


260  Social  Christianity. 

Mercury  is  the  only  English  daily  which  has  the 
moral  strength  to  resist  the  vile  contagion.  It  is 
particularly  gratifying  to  me,  as  a  Welshman,  to 
be  reminded  that  the  vernacular  newspapers  of  my 
native  country  are  free  from  this  evil.  When  will 
the  great  journals  of  England  rise  to  the  moral 
level  of  their  contemporaries  in  the  little  Princi- 
pality of  Wales?  The  sad  connivance  of  the 
ordinary  journals  does  not  satisfy  the  demands  of 
the  betting  fraternity.  They  have  their  own  news- 
papers, and  even  their  daily  newspapers.  The 
Christian  Churches  have  long  felt  the  need  of  a 
daily  newspaper  devoted  to  the  high  interests  of 
Christianity.  We  have  not  yet  the  strength  and 
unity  to  secure  that.  But  the  gamblers  have 
already  more  than  one  flourishing  daily  of  their 
own. 

It  is  impossible  to  exaggerate  the  evils  of 
gambling.  Well  are  the  resorts  of  gamblers  called 
"  hells."  Gambling,  like  drunkenness,  becomes  at 
last  an  overpowering  appetite,  which  the  victim  is 
helpless  to  resist.  I  shall  never  forget  the  first 
gambler  who  came  under  my  pastoral  notice.  He 
was  in  a  good  social  position,  a  sober  and  indus- 
trious man.  He  had  a  Christian  wife,  and  a 
healthy,  happy  family.  But  the  betting  mania 
took  possession  of  him.  He  often  wept  and  trem- 
bled under  the  Word  of  God.     I  could  not  imagine 


Gambling.  2  6 1 

why  he  did  not  yield  to  Christ.  At  last  I  dis- 
covered the  chain  of  adamant  which  bound  him  to 
the  depths  of  hell.  It  was  gambling.  Ever  and 
anon  the  newspapers  give  us  a  momentary  glance 
at  the  devilry  and  anguish  of  gambling.  Ruin, 
despair,  suicide — these  are  the  three  swift  steps  by 
which  many  a  gambler  passes  to  his  doom.  Is  it 
not  time  to  face  this  incalculable  woe,  and  to 
attack  it  ? 

Is  gambling  wrong  ?  Must  we  condemn  it 
absolutely  and  unhesitatingly  ?  Or  can  we  make 
terms  with  it  ?  There  are  many  sophisms  in  the 
air.  Young  men  are  taught  to  say  that  one  may 
do  what  he  likes  with  his  own  ;  and  that  there  is 
no  sin  in  betting,  especially  if  you  bet  only  for 
small  amounts.  When  I  was  at  Oxford,  a  great 
dignitary  came  to  preach  on  this  subject  before 
the  undergraduates,  and  informed  an  immense 
crowd  of  young  Englishmen  (unless  he  was  en- 
tirely misunderstood)  that  there  was  no  harm  in 
betting  if  the  sum  you  risked  did  not  exceed  a 
shilling,  or,  at  the  outside,  half  a  crown  !  But  that 
is  not  the  way  to  deal  with  young  men.  What  in 
the  world  has  the  amount  of  the  bet  to  do  with  it  ? 
Away  with  all  such  deadly  trifling.  On  broad 
intelligible  grounds,  gambling  is  either  right  or 
wrong.     Which  is  it  ? 

Now,  in  the  first  place,  even  if  gambling  were 


262  Social  Christianity. 

not  wrong  in  itself,  its  actual  deadly  effects  would 
make  it  hateful  to  every  true  man.  The  only 
honourable  and  legitimate  rule  of  human  conduct 
is  expressed  in  my  text :  "  Let  no  man  seek  his 
own,  but  each  his  neighbour's  good."  And  the 
practical  result  is  found  in  St.  Paul's  memorable 
words :  "  All  things  are  lawful,  but  all  things  are 
not  expedient."  You  may  remember  a  beautiful 
episode  in  the  life  of  David.  Three  of  the  bravest 
of  his  officers  made  their  way  through  the  Philis- 
tine camp  ;  and  at  the  risk  of  their  lives  obtained 
water  from  the  cool  well  of  Bethlehem  to  quench 
David's  thirst.  But  their  magnanimous  leader 
refused  to  drink  it.  He  poured  it  forth  as  an 
offering  to  God,  exclaiming :  "  Be  it  far  from  me, 
O  Lord,  that  I  should  do  this.  Shall  I  drink  the 
blood  of  the  men  that  went  in  jeopardy  of  their 
lives?"  (2  Sam.  xxiii.  17.)  And  if  David,  who 
lived  so  long  ago,  would  not  for  very  brother- 
liness  receive  pleasure  at  so  great  a  risk  to  other 
men,  shall  we  gamble  at  the  price  of  broken  hearts 
and  shattered  homes  ? 

But,  secondly,  apart  altogether  from  this  im- 
perative consideration,  gambling  is  positively  and 
absolutely  wrong,  and  that  for  two  reasons.  In 
the  first  place,  it  promotes  gain  without  merit.  It 
rewards  those  who  do  not  deserve  reward.  The 
wholesome  law  of  life  is  that  man  shall   eat  his 


Gambling.  263 


bread  in  the  sweat  of  his  face,  and  where  that 
law  is  systematically  violated,  the  violation  is  a 
curse  to  all  concerned.  St.  Paul  says  :  "  Let  him 
that  stole  steal  no  more,  but  rather  let  him  labour, 
working  with  his  hands  the  thing  that  is  good,  that 
he  may  have  whereof  to  give  to  him  that  hath 
need  "  (Eph.  iv.  28).  This  noble  precept  does  not 
mean  that  every  man  must  be  a  manual  labourer. 
A  man  may  often  work  with  his  brain  much 
more  laboriously  and  serviceably  than  with  his 
hand.  But  it  is  the  indisputable  teaching  of  St. 
Paul  that  cither  with  hand  or  with  brain  every 
man  ought  to  work  for  the  public  good.  He  even 
went  so  far  as  to  say,  "  If  any  will  not  work, 
neither  let  him  eat  (2  Thess.  iii.  10).  What  an 
outcry  there  would  have  been  if  I  had  uttered 
so  revolutionary  a  sentiment  as  that !  But  some 
day,  I  venture  to  prophesy,  the  doctrine  of  St. 
Paul's  will  be  embodied  in  the  legislation  of 
Christian  States.  Some  day  the  most  despised 
outcast  of  human  society  will  be  the  immoral 
wretch  who  does  nothing  with  brain  or  hand  to 
deserve  the  bread  he  eats. 

Probably  when  that  millennial  day  arrives  the 
old  Jewish  custom  of  teaching  everybody  a  trade 
will  be  revived.  It  proved  an  inestimable  service 
to  St.  Paul  himself  that  he  was  able  to  fall  back 
upon  his  trade  as  a  tent- maker.     I  might  say  that 


264  Social  Christianity. 

the  Jewish  custom  is  already  established  in  the  great 
House  of  Hohenzollern.  The  Second  German 
Emperor,  whose  death  we  so  deeply  lament,  was 
a  jeweller,  and  a  first-rate  jeweller.  Technical 
education  should  be  universal,  and  every  man 
should  be  able,  if  the  occasion  arose,  to  "  work 
with  his  hands  the  thing  that  is  good,"  not  that 
he  might  be  able  to  curse  his  children  with 
excessive  wealth,  but  that  "  he  may  have  whereof 
to  give  to  him  that  hath  need."  Now,  gambling 
is  the  opposite  of  all  this.  It  gives  to  him  who 
has  not  toiled  and  who  does  not  deserve.  It  flatly 
contradicts  the  rule  of  the  Divine  Judgment,  which 
renders  to  every  man  according  to  his  work.  It 
directly  obstructs  the  tendency  of  Christian  civiliza- 
tion. It  destroys  the  precious  and  vital  principles 
of  industry  and  thrift.  That  is  the  first  fatal 
objection  to  gambling. 

The  second  absolute  objection  is,  if  possible,  even 
stronger.  It  promotes  gain  tlirougJi  another's  loss. 
It  is,  therefore,  anti-social  and  anti-Christian.  All 
lawful  trade  promotes  mutual  advantages.  This 
is  an  unfailing  test  of  legitimate  transactions. 
Everything  that  benefits  you  by  injuring  your 
neighbour  is  wrong. 

Mr.  Herbert  Spencer  has  expressed  these  funda- 
mental objections  to  gambling  very  clearly  in  one 
of  the  most  interesting  and  valuable  of  his  writ- 


Gambling.  265 

ings,  "  The  Study  of  Sociology."  "  Listen,"  he 
says,  "  to  a  conversation  about  gambling ;  and, 
where  reprobation  is  expressed,  note  the  grounds  of 
the  reprobation.  That  it  tends  towards  the  ruin  of 
the  gambler ;  that  it  risks  the  welfare  of  family 
and  friends  ;  that  it  alienates  from  business,  and 
leads  into  bad  company — these,  and  such  as  these, 
are  the  reasons  given  for  condemning  the  practice. 
Rarely  is  there  any  recognition  of  the  fundamental 
reason.  Rarely  is  gambling  condemned  because 
it  is  a  kind  of  action  by  which  pleasure  is  obtained 
at  the  cost  of  pain  to  another.  The  normal  obtain- 
ment  of  gratification,  or  of  the  money  which 
purchases  gratification,  implies,  firstly,  that  there 
has  been  put  forth  equivalent  effort  of  a  kind 
which,  in  some  way,  furthers  the  general  good  ; 
and  implies,  secondly,  that  those  from  whom  the 
money  is  received,  get,  directly  or  indirectly, 
equivalent  satisfactions.  But  in  gambling  the 
opposite  happens.  Benefit  received  does  not 
imply  effort  put  forth  ;  and  the  happiness  of  the 
winner  involves  the  misery  of  the  loser.  This 
kind  of  action  is  therefore  essentially  anti-social — 
sears  the  sympathies,  cultivates  a  hard  egoism,  and 
so  produces  a  general  deterioration  of  character 
and  conduct  "  (p.  306). 

For  these  reasons  every  gambler  is  either  a  fool 
or  a: scoundrel,  or  both. 


266  Social  Christianity, 

We  must  ask  one  other  question  before  we  close. 
How  can  we  arrest  this  gigantic  and  unmitigated 
evil  ?  First  of  all,  has  not  the  time  come  to  form 
an  Anti-Gambling  Society,  for  the  purpose  of 
creating  and  directing  public  opinion  upon  the 
question  ?  We  have  societies  for  the  purpose  of 
suppressing  drunkenness,  lust,  and  war  ;  and  we 
know  what  vast  changes  in  opinion  and  law  they 
have  already  effected.  Why  could  we  not  do  the 
same  thing  in  opposition  to  gambling  ?  The 
time  has  come  to  boycott  all  gamblers.  They 
ought  especially  to  be  expelled  from  the  House  of 
Commons.  Nothing  would  do  more  to  impress 
the  public  conscience  than  to  make  gambling  a 
moral  disqualification  for  a  seat  in  Parliament. 
Rational  Christians  can  already  see  that  debauchees, 
drunkards,  and  gamblers,  are  utterly  unfit  to  make 
the  laws  of  England.  We  must  agitate  for  the 
rigid  exclusion  of  such  enemies  of  mankind.  We 
must  make  it  as  impossible  for  them  as  it  would 
be  for  a  pirate,  to  be  elected.  When  we  have 
cleansed  Parliament  of  their  polluting  presence, 
the  task  of  cleansing  minor  public  bodies  will  be 
comparatively  easy.  We  ought,  further,  to  hold 
public  meetings,  preach  sermons,  and  take  pledges 
against  gambling.  We  should  also  warn  children 
in  Day  and  Sunday  schools  against  this  insidious 
and  aggressive  curse. 


Gambling.  267 


But  it  will  not  be  enough  to  use  all  these  methods 
of  moral  suasion.  We  must  also  invoke  the  aid 
of  law.  The  law  already  prohibits  lotteries.  The 
principle  is  conceded.  The  law  also  prohibits 
betting  houses  on  the  well-recognised  ground,  that 
while  there  are  many  offences  which  cannot  be 
made  criminal,  the  intervention  of  a  third  party 
to  promote  or  facilitate  these  offences  comes 
legitimately  within  the  scope  of  repressive  law. 
Betting  houses  and  betting  clubs  must  be  put 
down  by  the  police,  as  they  have  been  in  the 
past,  but  much  more  vigorously.  There  must, 
however,  be  no  distinction  between  rich  and  poor. 
Police  raids  have  often  been  made  upon  the  bet- 
ting houses  of  the  poor  and  of  foreigners.  The 
notorious  haunts  of  aristocratic  gambling  must 
no  longer  be  spared. 

But  I  have  reserved  until  last  the  most  effectual, 
perhaps  the  only  effectual  remedy  to  gambling,  and 
that  is,  to  prohibit  by  law  the  publication  of  betting 
intelligence  in  any  newspaper.  The  cheap  news- 
papers are  the  great  agency  which  has  carried  the 
temptations  of  gambling  to  every  family  in  the 
land.  An  eminent  Russian  statesman  said  a  few 
weeks  ago  that  there  would  be  no  war  in  Europe 
if  he  were  permitted  to  hang  all  the  editors  of 
newspapers.  I  would  guarantee  the  suppression 
of  English   gambling  on   the  same  terms.     It  is 


268  Social  Christianity. 

difficult  to  realize  the  immense  power  of  the  Press. 
It  is  with  great  reluctance  that  high-class  journals 
have  opened  their  columns  to  betting  intelligence. 
All  upright  editors  would  welcome  the  assistance  of 
the  law  in  excluding  that  degrading  matter.  They 
can  scarcely  venture  to  exclude  it  until  their 
dangerous  rivals  are  also  compelled  to  do  the  same. 
The  present  Government  has  passed  a  law  to  fine 
and  imprison  journalists  who  report  the  proceed- 
ings of  suppressed  branches  of  the  National 
League.  That  method  might  without  hesitation 
be  employed  to  suppress  gambling.  Virtuous  and 
humane  men  ought  not  to  have  two  opinions  about 
its  legitimacy  in  relation  to  this  unquestionable 
evil.  Heavy  fines,  and  if  they  fail,  imprisonment 
ought  to  be  the  swift  punishment  of  all  editors, 
printers,  and  newspaper  proprietors  who  publish 
betting  intelligence.  When  that  law  is  passed  we 
shall  have  laid  our  axe  at  the  very  root  of  the 
Upas  tree  of  gambling. 


XX 

A   TIMELY   WARNING. 


preached  in  St.  James's  Hall,  Sunday  Evening, 
July  8tfi,  iSSS. 


XX. 

A    TIMELY   WARNING. 
"  Impossible." — IIee.  vi.  6. 

/^ANON  WESTCOTT,  in  a  recent  volume 
^-^  of  sermons,  has  directed  attention  to  this 
Epistle  as  peculiarly  suitable  to  the  present  age. 
It  was  written  to  men  in  circumstances  remarkably 
similar  to  our  own.  The  burning  of  the  Temple, 
and  the  scattering  of  the  Jewish  race  had  involved 
revolutionary  changes  in  Church  and  State  ;  and 
had  rudely  shaken  the  traditional  interpretation 
of  the  Bible.  It  was  an  era  of  change,  and  free 
criticism,  and  universal  readjustment.  They  were 
in  the  presence  of  new  ecclesiastical  leaders,  new 
national  policies,  new  religious  teachers.  The 
very  foundations  beneath  their  feet  seemed  to  be 
shaken.  In  many  respects  we  have  a  similar  ex- 
perience. The  author  of  this  Epistle  came  to 
comfort  and  console  them,  as  he  now  comforts  and 
consoles  us,  with  the  assurance  that  notwithstand- 
ing all  these  changes  and  revolutions,  the  old 
truths  were  about  to  triumph  more  fully  and  more 
gloriously  than  ever.     Canon  Westcott  has  dwelt 


272  Social  Christianity. 


i 


with  characteristic  sympathy  and   subtlety  upon 
that  side  of  the  Epistle  to  the  Hebrews. 

But  there,  is  quite  another  side,  and  quite 
another  lesson.  Indeed,  the  main  object  of  the 
Epistle  is  not  to  comfort  but  to  warn  the  readers. 
In  such  a  transition  age  as  theirs  and  ours,  men 
are  in  special  danger  of  lax  notions  and  lax  con- 
duct. I  shall  never  forget  the  impression  this 
Epistle  produced  on  me  some  years  ago  when  I 
read  it  through  at  a  sitting ;  and  felt  the  main 
current  of  its  teaching.  It  is  really  a  terrible 
Epistle.  The  author  shows  that  both  men  and 
ages  have  sometimes  lost  their  great  opportunity, 
and  lost  it  irrevocably.  He  illustrates  this  appall- 
ing truth  in  the  case  of  individuals,  from  the 
history  of  Esau.  That  unhappy  man  sold  his 
birthright  for  a  mess  of  pottage  ;  and  when  he 
began  to  realize  the  painful  consequences  of  the 
act  he  found  no  place  for  repentance,  though  he 
sought  it  carefully  with  tears.  The  same  truth  is 
illustrated  in  the  case  of  nations,  by  the  fact  that 
the  generation  which  came  out  of  Egypt  sinned 
away  their  great  opportunity.  Their  carcases  fell 
in  the  wilderness.  They  could  not  enter  Canaan. 
He  solemnly  warns  the  Hebrew  Christians  that,  in 
like  manner,  if  they  sin  away  their  opportunity  of 
spiritual  salvation  in  Christ,  it  will  be  "impossible" 
to  save  them  by  any  other  mean3. 


A    Timely   Warning.  273 

This  terrific  truth  is  emphasized  by  the  use  of  the 
word  "  impossible."  He  is  speaking  to  those  who 
have  enjoyed  the  characteristic  blessings  of  the 
Christian  faith.  If  they,  under  the  influence  of  an 
age  of  change  and  scepticism,  become  confirmed 
apostates,  there  is  no  hope  for  them.  They  have  de- 
liberately rejected  the  only  remedy.  In  describing 
their  participation  in  the  Gospel  the  author  uses  the 
beautiful  Greek  conception  of  it,  rather  than  the 
Latin  conception,  with  which  we  are  more  familiar. 
The  Latin  Church  speaks  of  "  conversion" — a  turn- 
ing round  from  evil  to  good.  The  Greek  Church, 
more  intellectual,  describes  the  great  change  as 
"illumination" — the  diffusion  of  Divine  Light 
through  the  dark  soul  of  man.  In  this  way  the 
author  of  the  Epistle  before  us  describes  those  of 
whom  he  writes  as  "  enlightened."  Then  he  men- 
tions four  characteristic  features  of  those  who  are 
thus  "enlightened."  First,  they  have  "tasted  the 
heavenly  gift,"  the  Divine  manna,  Jesus  Christ. 
They  have  had  an  actual  personal  experience  of 
living  union  with  Him.  Secondly,  they  have  been 
"  made  partakers  of  the  Holy  Ghost  "  ;  their  hearts 
have  been  the  temples  of  the  Divine  Spirit. 
Thirdly,  they  have  "tasted  the  good  word  of 
God  "  ;  they  have  understood  the  spiritual  meaning 
of  the  Bible.  Fourthly,  they  have  "  tasted  the 
powers  of  the  age  to  come  " ;  they  have  had  per- 

18 


274  Social  Christianity. 


sonal  experience  of  the  supernatural  life  of  real 
Christianity,  and  of  the  miraculous  answers  to 
prayer  which  real  Christians  receive. 

Now,  if  any  man  who  has  had  this  experience  ot 
the  Eternal  Life  falls  away  fully  and  utterly,  it  is 
"impossible  "  to  "renew"  him  again  unto  repent- 
ance. He  has  consciously  and  deliberately  rejected 
the  only  remedy.  God  Himself  can  provide  no 
other.  The  author  uses  a  very  striking  and  ter- 
rible illustration  from  nature.  He  says  that  a 
piece  of  land  may  be  so  incurably  filled  with  the 
seeds  of  thorns  and  thistles,  that  the  more  it  is 
watered  with  life-giving  rain,  the  more  prolifically 
it  brings  forth  these  obnoxious  products.  In  like 
manner,  our  natures  may  be  so  much  changed  for 
the  worse,  that  all  good  influences  will  only  bring 
out  more  and  more  evil  in  us. 

The  very  same  sun  which  melts  wax  hardens 
clay  ;  and  by  persistent  sin  against  the  clearest 
light  and  the  best  opportunities,  our  hearts  may  be 
so  completely  turned  into  clay  that  all  the  influ- 
ence of  Divine  Love  may  only  harden  us  more  and 
more.  Force  is  no  remedy.  God  cannot  coerce 
us  with  policemen  and  soldiers,  to  love  Him.  He 
can  only  conciliate  us  by  the  most  affecting  ex- 
hibition of  His  Love  ;  and,  if  that  fails,  He  has  no 
other  resource.  We  may  become  so  perverted  and 
corrupted  that  the  very    Love   of  God  will  only 


A    Timely    Warning.  275 


harden  us.  Look  at  the  two  brigands  who  were 
crucified  with  Christ.  They  saw  His  dying  agony, 
and  one  of  them  was  melted  into  penitence.  But 
the  other  was  only  hardened,  and  died  with  a 
hissing  curse  upon  his  lips.  We  have  but  to  open 
our  eyes  and  look  around  us,  to  see  what  a  fearful 
power  the  free  will  of  man  has  to  turn  the  supreme 
blessing  of  Divine  Love  into  a  supreme  curse. 
Who  are  the  most  bitter  enemies  of  Christ  ?  The 
drunkards,  the  harlots,  the  outcasts  of  all  sorts  ? 
No.  Those  avIio  have  sinned  against  the  light ; 
those  who  have  felt  the  power  of  Divine  Love  ; 
those  who  have  consciously  resisted  the  Spirit  of 
Christ. 

The  authors  warn  the  tempted  Hebrew  Chris- 
tians not  to  reject  Christ.  If  they  reject  Him, 
there  is  no  other  Saviour.  There  are  multitudes 
in  all  lands,  and  in  this  land,  who  have  never 
rejected  Christ  ;  who  have  never  had  the  oppor- 
tunity of  intelligently  and  deliberately  rejecting 
Christ.  There  is  hope  for  them — more  hope,  per- 
haps, than  we  dare  to  cherish. 

"  Whom  the  heart  of  man  shuts  out, 
Sometimes  the  heart  of  God  takes  in." 

The  text  does  not  refer  to  them.  There  is  only 
one  "unpardonable  sin,"  and  that  is  the  sin  of 
finally  rejecting  Christ.     And  that  sin,  remember, 


276  Social  Christianity. 

is  unpardonable  in  the  very  nature  of  things,  and 
not  as  the  result  of  some  arbitrary  act  on  the  part 
of  God.  It  is  very  difficult,  but  not  impossible,  to 
commit  "the  unpardonable  sin."  "In  every  nation, 
he  that  feareth  God  and  worketh  righteousness 
is  accepted  of  Him."  For  Christ's  sake  the  heathen 
are  judged  according  to  the  light  granted  to  them. 
Full  and  ample  justice  is  done  to  all.  And  the 
great  opportunity  comes  to  all.  But  if  that  oppor- 
tunity is  lost,  there  is  no  other.  There  can  be  no 
other.  God  cannot  provide  any  other.  There  is 
"  no  other  name  under  heaven,  wherein  we  can  be 
saved."  Mark  it  well — at  some  time,  in  some  way 
the  great  opportunity  comes  to  all ;  but  if  it  is 
finally  rejected  it  cannot  be  renewed  or  repeated. 

I  say  finally  rejected.  We  must  beware  of  the 
Montanist  and  Novatian  errors.  The  text  does  not 
mean  that  backsliders  cannot  be  restored.  We 
have  many  blessed  proofs  to  the  contrary.  He 
who  bids  us  forgive  our  brother  seventy  times 
seven,  will  never  hesitate  to  forgive  us,  however 
far  we  have  wandered  from  Him,  if  we  return  to 
Him.  But  we  may  wander  so  far  that  the  disposi- 
tion to  return  will  be  utterly  destroyed  within  us ; 
will  be  replaced  by  a  disposition  to  flee  from  Him. 
Large  and  ample  opportunity  is  given  to  us  ;  but 
if  that  be  deliberately  and  finally  rejected,  it  is 
"impossible"  to  renew  us  to  repentance. 


A    Timely   Warning.  277 


"  Once  to  every  man   and  nation,   comes   the   moment  to 
decide, 
In  the  strife  of  Truth  with  Falsehood,  for  the  good  or  evil 

side  ; 
.     .    ..    And  the  choice  goes  by  for  ever." 

There  is  no  second  probation.  How  can  there 
be,  if  the  first  probation  is  an  exhaustive  one  ?  A 
second  probation  necessarily  assumes  that,  in  some 
way  or  other,  the  first  probation  has  not  been  full 
and  complete.  But  I  assume  that  the  power  and 
wisdom  of  God  will  secure  to  every  man  a  perfect 
probation.  If  man  fails  under  that  perfect  test, 
the  resources  of  God  Himself  are  exhausted.  He 
can  do  no  more  for  us.  He  has  provided  us  with 
salvation  in  Christ.  But  if  we  reject  that,  what 
more  can  God  do  ?     Nothing — nothing. 

This  life  is  a  very  real  probation  ;  and  ours  is 
a  tremendous  responsibility.  Our  whole  future 
hinges,  necessarily  and  inevitably,  upon  our  treat- 
I  ment  of  Christ.  "  He  that  believeth  on  the  Son 
hath  eternal  life  ;  but  he  that  obeyeth  not  the  Son 
shall  not  see  life,  but  the  wrath  of  God  abideth  on 
him  "  (St.  John  iii.  36). 

Now,  as  when  this  Epistle  was  written,  we  feel 
the  doubts  and  difficulties  of  a  transition  age,  and 
the  situation  is  full  of  peril.  A  lady  who  has  as- 
ociatcd  all  her  life  with  persons  of  high  rank  and 
literary  distinction  told   me  a  few  days  ago  that 


2"]%  Social  Christianity. 

she  finds  it  almost  impossible  to  shake  off  the 
influence  of  the  cynical  scepticism  which  has  en- 
veloped her  from  her  childhood.  All  her  days  she 
has  been  taught  that  "nothing  is  certain,  and  it 
does  not  matter!'  That  sentiment  works  the  most 
deadly  mischief.  The  Eternal  Verities  are  dis- 
missed with  a  cynical  smile.  But  they  refuse  to  go. 
The  Bible  is  true.  The  words  of  Christ  abide  for 
ever. 

Some  who  do  not  go  so  far  as  the  cynical 
agnostics  of  fashionable  and  self-indulgent  Society, 
nevertheless  cherish  a  vague  hope  that  all  will  yet 
be  well  even  for  those  who  deliberately  reject 
Christ.  They  cling  desperately  to  the  notion  that 
in  some  way  or  other  of  which  we  have  as  yet 
heard  no  whisper,  God  will  save  those  who  intelli- 
gently refuse  to  be  saved  by  His  Son.  All  these 
thin  and  restless  sentiments  dash  themselves  to 
pieces  against  the  solid  rock,  the  immovable  word 
— Impossible.  They  are  probably  founded  upon 
an  utter  misconception  of  the  "omnipotence5'  of 
God.  That  word  does  not  mean  that  God  can 
literally  do  anything.  It  means  that  He  can  do 
anything  consistent  with  His  nature.  One  attri- 
bute is  necessarily  limited  by  another.  God  is  not 
mere  Omnipotence,  mere  irresistible  Force.  That 
is  the  Llohammcdan  delusion.  He  is  also  Wisdom, 
and  Goodness,  and  Love.    The  first  Napoleon  used 


A    Timely    Warning.  279 

to  say  that  the  word  "  impossible  "  was  not  found 
in  his  vocabulary.  But  that  was,  of  course,  an 
epigrammatic  exaggeration.  The  word  "impos- 
sible "  is  found  even  in  the  vocabulary  of  God. 
It  is  "impossible  for  God  to  lie"  (Heb.  vi.  18).  It 
is  impossible  for  Him  to  alter  the  past.  It  is 
equally  impossible  for  Him  to  save  any  man 
except  through  and  in  Christ.  He  will  try  to  save 
every  man  by  Christ.  If  any  man  is  not  saved,  it 
will  be  that  man's  own  fault.  But  every  one  of  us 
can  frustrate  the  love  of  God. 

By  continually  resisting  God  we  can  gradually 
change  our  nature.  Our  Acts  of  deliberate 
rebellion  harden  into  Habits,  our  Habits  harden 
into  Character,  and  Character  may  become  fixed 
for  ever.  In  the  course  of  our  probation  we  may 
bring  ourselves  into  a  condition  in  which  the  love 
of  God  ceases  to  attract  and  conciliate  us,  in  which 
it  repels  and  irritates  us.  Then  all  is  lost.  How 
wonderful  is  the  watershed  of  a  great  mountain 
range !  Here  is  a  little  spring.  It  makes  a  small 
pool  of  water.  The  water  overflows.  Because  it 
is  on  the  south  side  of  the  watershed,  the  water 
flows  evermore  towards  the  bright  and  sunny 
South.  You  advance  a  few  yards.  Without 
knowing  it,  you  have  crossed  the  narrow  water- 
shed. There  is  no  visible  dividing  line.  But  you 
see  another  little  spring,  with  its  small  pool.     The 


2  So  Social  Christianity. 

water  flows  forth  ;  lo  !  it  is  turned  now  to  the 
North,  and  it  flows  for  ever  toward  the  darkness 
and  the  bitter  cold.  There  is  such  a  watershed  in 
your  moral  nature.  Have  you  reached  the  fate- 
ful line?  Have  you  crossed  it?  Alas!  from  this 
time  forward  all  the  springs  of  your  life  flow  away 
from  God  toward  the  blackness  of  darkness  and  all 
the  desolations  of  death. 

It  is  useless  to  deny  or  ignore  that  awful  possi- 
bility. Even  Lowell,  the  sanguine  poet  of  demo- 
cracy, is  obliged  to  utter  the  bitter  cry  of  a  lost 
soul  : 

"  I  hear  the  reapers  singing  go 
Into  God's  harvest ;  I,  that  might 
With  them  have  chosen,  here  below, 
Grope  shuddering  at  the  gates  of  night.1' 

Well  might  Dante  inscribe  over  those  gates  :  "  All 
hope  abandon,  ye  who  enter  here." 

They  have  deliberately  rejected  Christ.  God 
Himself  is  helpless  now.  At  great  cost,  how  great 
He  alone  knows,  His  love  provided  a  way  of 
escape.  They  wantonly  and  wilfully  closed  that 
way.  There  is  no  other.  There  can  be  no  other. 
They  are  undone  for  ever.  All  pleas,  protests, 
arguments  are  silenced  by  the  one  word — Im- 
possible. 

Is  this  a  matter  for  mirth  or  trifling  ?  Why  has 
God  compelled  me  to  take  this  theme  to-day  ?     I 


A    Timely    Warning.  281 

place  myself  in  His  hands.  I  do  not  choose  any 
text.  I  wait.  I  wait.  I  cry :  "  Speak,  Lord,  for 
Thy  servant  heareth."  This  week  when  the  text 
came,  I  shuddered.  I  found  that  it  was  a  word — 
the  word  "  Impossible."  I  would  have  fled  from  it 
as  Jonah  fled  from  Nineveh.  But  I  dared  not.  Is 
there  some  one  in  this  vast  audience  to  whom,  by 
my  voice,  God  sends  this  last  appeal  ?  Do  you 
not  know  that  every  hour  you  delay  to  accept 
Christ,  you  are  changing  your  heart,  you  are  form- 
ing your  final  character,  you  are  making  your  soul 
proof  against  the  love  of  God  ?  The  hour  of  final 
choice  draws  nearer,  nearer,  nearer.  You  may  have 
entered  upon  it  now.  Repent.  Escape  for  your 
life.     Flee  to  Christ,  and  all  will  yet  be  well. 

Resist,  refuse,  go  away  unsaved,  and  Christ  may 
be  compelled  to  follow  your  retreating  figure  with 
the  bleeding  heart,  and  with  the  irrevocable  words 
with  which  He  followed  Judas  Iscariot :  "It  would 
have  been  a  good  thing  for  that  man  if  he  had 
never  been  born." 


r.utler  &  Tanner,  The  Selwood  Printing  Works  Frome,  and  London. 


